Posts in Kita e Category
November 9, 2004This was a few days ago, but anyways ;) ADV announced at Oni-con that they licensed Kita e, which for right now will be called Onto the North.
You can read my entries about Kita e here. I'll probably be picking this one up since I did like it.
A very nice ending episode that finishes some of the stories from earlier :) That guy that's been all over the place actually has a name! He's Juurota, and he's got a girlfriend, too :) Anyways, all of the characters from the series make their way to Sapporo for one reason or another, and at the end, after the snow stops falling they all see that fabled Diamond Dust. If I get sent to Hokkaido when I go to Japan as an exchange student I'll be sure to watch for it :)
Well, I have to say I've been impressed by Kita e. Once again, since it was based on one of those dating-type games I didn't have too high hopes, but it turned out pretty well. Since each girl only had 2 episodes devoted to her, there wasn't a very long time to develop characters and such, but it still worked out. The stories ranged from serious at times (Shouko) to pretty light (Suomi), covering a wide range. I'm really surprised that there was very little in the way of fanservice, as you would expect a show like this to have a lot, ne? And all of the stories didn't revolve around romance, which was also a bit surprising.
The character design for the show, especially for the girls, was a bit different and took a bit of getting used to, but again, it worked for the show. The animation was decent up until the last few episodes where it was a bit sloppy and inconsistent here and there. Music was okay... The ultra-happy opening song, though catchy, felt a bit out of place with the tone of some of the stories. The ending song, however, fit very well :)
I've enjoyed watching Kita e, and think some of y'all out there would probably like it as well. Check it out, it's not that bad :)
Final Rating: B
Sorry, but no screencaps this time :( Anyways, I liked Akari's story, even though it took a while to really get into and did end up bittersweet. That guy was back again, of course, this time wearing a shirt that said 幸福駅 koufuku eki, "Happiness Station" (They actually showed the station during the eyecatch in episode 10) The diamond dust comes up again and we actually see it this time as Akari's father sees it with her mother. Pretty stuff :)
I did notice (like Jeff did) that the animation was off here and there. Akari wasn't drawn very consistantly from scene to scene. Good thing there's only one episode left, aptly named "Diamond Dust Drops". Looks like we'll get to see all the girls one last time :)
Time for the last part of Shouko's story. It starts off in a pretty dour mood with Shouko worried about "Radio Boy". But then, it looked like Shouko kinda pretended that nothing was going on, and kept on getting stuff from that "Radio Boy" person, and it seemed like she was saying she liked stuff on-air so she could get it from him. However, that lighter mood doesn't last for long as she has a falling out with her married boyfriend and reads a letter on-air about another person with the same problem as that. She decides she's had enough of radio, it's "just talking to the microphone". But guess who shows up to save the day? Radio Boy again. Turns out he wasn't that bad a guy, he just wanted some attention and Shouko was the only one who talked to him. She gets enough confidence from that (and her listeners' encouragement) to continue on, and to forget about the married guy (throwing the necklace he gave her away). You go girl! Now don't ever date a married guy again, ne? ;) There's a new girl next time, Harada Akari in Obihiro.
Time for the next leading lady from Hokkaido, Shouko, who lives in Sapporo. From the way this episode started I can't help but think that this story ain't gonna turn out too well, at least for Shouko. Looks like she's seeing a married man. Never a good idea.. Shouko works as the host of her own radio show and takes faxes in from people asking relationship questions and everything inbetween. This "Radio Boy" person has been sending a lot of faxes lately... it doesn't seem like anything good'll come of that either.. I wonder what Shouko'll do given what happened at the end of the episode?
Our leading lady this time is Kitano Suomi. Unlike the other Kita e girls she only gets this one episode (unfortunately). But what a nice episode it was :)
The episode starts off in a park with Haruto and his friend fighting after skating lessons about something. Sumoi is there sitting on the bench eating cream puffs (she really likes them) and takes notice of their fight and then follows Haruto when he walks off. Haruto thinks it's a bit weird but... Suomi catches up and gives him a cream puff. Then, it's a "date" and they go various places. Haruto talks to Suomi a bit more about the fight he had with his friend and Suomi remembers something similar that happened... Got your interest yet? Good. I ain't saying anything else, go watch :)
Of course, that guy shows up again, this time trying to skate (and not doing very well). He's our comic relief for each story, I guess :) Anyways, this episode was probably the best of all of them so far. Next episode we start another 2 episode story.
Current Rating: B-. If there are more episodes like this one that'll go up a bit.
Are the bittersweet endings going to continue? Kyoko finally gets to the end of her rope and quits the cinema club after the film she took ended up blank (she blamed it on the club members). Even her live-in boyfriend Yuu has had enough of it after a while and leaves. I guess she deserved it. She says as much herself... Kyoko finally comes around and realizes that she's been too obsessed with winning and lost sight of why she started to make films in the first place, but too late to get back Yuu. But not too late to get back into the cinema club.
So that's the end of Kyoko's story, and we're on to another girl next time. Suomi, the figure skating girl, in Asahikawa. Maybe we'll get a happy ending this time.
Current Rating: A B- for some interesting stories and a bit of a twist on the usual H-game turned anime. We're at the halfway point now, and 6 episodes are left.
Time for our third Hokkaido girl, Asahina Kyoko, from Kitami. She's an aspiring film director, and won honorable mention at last year's amateur film festival. This year she's determined to win 1st place no matter what.. but she's a bit tough on her cast (she's a part of a cinema club, so the cast is the other club members), and has some problems getting one of them to cooperate. Things eventually do work out, but... and we'll wait to find out 'til the next episode.
This story doesn't seem quite as interesting as Karin's (3-4) or Atsuko's (1-2) stories from before. But we'll see... Both of those stories didn't turn to have your typical "happy ending" as you would think, so maybe this one'll turn out a bit different.
Current Rating: A B- for now. Somewhat interesting stories, and the way they end are different than you would expect, but there's nothing really special to make it stand out. But it is a good advertisement for Hokkaido :)
Next Up:
Yumeria 7
Tokyo Mew Mew 2
Naruto 71
