Kimagure Orange Road (TV)

Title:Kimagure Orange Road (TV)
KOR
きまぐれオレンジ☆ロード
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: FURUYA Toru
HONDA Chieko
KAWAMURA Maria
KIKUCHI Masami
NAKAHARA Shigeru
NANBA Keiichi
OGATA Kenichi
SAKAMOTO Chika
SUZUKI Reiko
TATSUTA Naoki
TOMIYAMA Kei
TOMIZAWA Michie
TSURU Hiromi
YAMADA Eiko
YARA Yuusaku
Fifteen-year-old KASUGA Kyosuke has problems. First, he thinks he might be in love with AYUKAWA Madoka, but he's not sure if she loves him. Second, Hikaru is crazy about him, but he's not sure if he loves her. And third, his entire family are powerful psychics, which causes all kinds of strange situations! Will this indecisive boy be able to make up his mind about which girl he wants, and will his family's supernatural abilities remain a secret?
[TV series, 1987-1988, 48 episodes, 25 min; left to right: Hatta (classmate), Master (owner of the Abcb restaurant), Yuusaku (kouhai); Madoka (classmate), Kyosuke, Hikaru (kouhai); Manami (sister/kouhai), Takashi (father), Kurumi (sister/kouhai).

Originally licensed by AnimeEigo. But their licensing rights to the series have expired thus the series is currently unlicensed.

1:41min Series Opening 1 of 3 (Night of Summer Side) - YouTube Video
1:35min Series Opening 2 of 3 (Orange Mystery) - YouTube Video
1:47min Series Opening 3 of 3 (Kagami no naka no actress) - YouTube Video
[edit] The ↗Kimagure Orange Road franchise:
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OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch Xenoknight [series:321#2967]
Plan to watch one day - courtesy of KBanger1...

Never forget Xenosaga.

Last updated Thursday, October 09 2008. Created Monday, September 22 2008.
Buy 7 6 7 8 8 8 Ggultra2764 [series:321#1552]
One of the big romance anime titles of the 1980s, I heard enough about KOR a couple years ago to be tempted enough to watch the series. While it definitely shows it's age with artwork and character archetypes, it has enough qualities to make it stand out from romantic comedies I've seen recently.

As I've explained, Kimagure Orange Road does follow the standard character archetypes found in shounen romance comedy titles. You have the nice guy in the form of Kyosuke. The strong-willed tsundere gal warming up to said nice guy comes in the form of Madoka. The best friend of said tsundere gal with her own interest in the guy is Hikaru. There's even a perverted pair of friends in the form of Hatta and Komatsu.

But despite the archetypes and the use of psychic power from Kyosuke and his sisters, KOR has a slice-of-life feel to it which keeps things down to earth and not get too over the top. The characters all undergo their own arkward trails of development, whether it is serious or funny. Kyosuke often makes use of his power to try making things better for either himself or others yet it complicates matters and he has to correct them. The Kasuga family cat, Jingoro, does what it can to escape the psychic antics of the family. Even Kyosuke's sisters get some focus in episodes. Plus, the use of fan service in this title felt smart as it was only used to tease and get some laughs instead of going over the top and arousing its audience. Kyosuke has his moments where he thinks about Madoka or stares at her. But, any boy at his age would do such things, especially when put in an arkward situation with a girl.

The main focus on this classic anime is the love triangle between Hikaru, Kyosuke, and Madoka. Kyosuke's interactions with the girls change the two and bring out better qualities in them, though Hikaru remains the same happy-go-lucky girl fawning over Kyosuke throughout the series while oblivious of Kyosuke's true feelings towards Madoka. As for Madoka and Kyosuke, their relationship slowly develops throughout the series which often complicates how they approach things with Hikaru as Kyosuke's indecisiveness and Madoka's whimsical personality prevent the two from starting a romantic relationship as they don't want to hurt Hikaru. The TV series, unfortunately, doesn't resolve the love triangle, even when Kyosuke confesses to Madoka. It isn't until the movie, I Want to Return to That Day that the love triangle to the series gets resolved.

The artwork and character designs are standard for what you would find in a 1980s anime title which makes it look outdated compared to current anime titles. The music features some catchy and upbeat J-pop songs that go along well with the carefree mood of this series.

Kimagure Orange Road is a classic romantic comedy which has enough notable aspects to it to stand out from recent titles of its genre that I've seen. It has it's archetypes and outdated animation. But the show's down to earth feel and charm should make it worth checking out for those wanting to see older anime titles.

Last updated Thursday, September 11 2008. Created Thursday, September 11 2008.
Unevaluated Stretch [series:321#628]
I am interested in the history of anime, and consequently am intrigued by the new Live-eviL fansub series of Kimagure Orange Road. KOR is an anime classic which I've always felt I ought to see, but was rather lengthy and had been R1 licensed, so I never got around to it. However, apparently AnimEigo has either gone out of business or withdrawn this series from distribution, and KOR fansubs have promptly been re-released. Episode one from Live-eviL includes interesting comments at both the start and beginning, including an example of the crappy "nth generation VHS fansubs" which American otaku had to make do with twenty-odd years ago. One thing I've already learned: I always thought KOR was a Rumiko Takahashi work, but I stand corrected.

Last updated Sunday, March 09 2008. Created Sunday, March 09 2008.
Buy 6 6 5 7 0 0 KBanger1 [series:321#1694]
I just started on KOR and wanted to give a quick 10 cent review. At first, I thought it was dubbed so when I started to watch it, I started to lose interest right away. Luckily, I did manage to hang in there for the entire first disc. For a hardcore dub fan like myself, this turned out to be a good thing. I'm slowly beginning to realize why a lot of the "naturalists" don't enjoy the dubbed animes. It won't change my opinion, but it makes things a lot clearer. Back to the review. I'm gonna continue the series to it's last disc. For now, let me give a quick synop. The protagonist, Kyosuke, moves into a new town and meets up with a girl, Madoka. It's like a love at first sight thing (for him at least) and it looks straight-forward from there. Later on, he mentions that he has psychic powers along with the rest of his family and how he wants to live a normal life without having to use his powers. I'm gonna leave it at that since the rest of the reviewers broke it down. For the dub fans, this is a good introduction if you ever want to make yourself learn to watch the original jap dub. The dialogue is kept simple although some parts seem a little rough. I'll be back to evaluate the full series or at least more than halfway (past 6 discs). Yes, it's that long.

Update: Sept. 12, 2006

I've just finished KOR today and (at least to myself) I think that it is worth the buy, if you're lucky to get your hands on it. Not to spoil it but it begins with the first two characters from the start and ends with the both of them. There were a lot of events that took place in between, but that's where the anime got my attention. Otherwise, if it was a shortened version, it would have been cut and dry. Maybe, out of all those episodes, 8 - 10 of them puts the whole thing together. The only thing that bothered me was the last episode. I unfortunately watched the final OVA of the series (not to confuse KOR: Summer's Beginning) and spoiled the entire series for myself. I was irked at the last episode of the series because the events that happen in the OVA don't reflect anything of the series. Apparently the OVA was the "official" ending of the tv series but it doesn't seem like it was the "right" ending. It seemed like it was all coincidental instead of things happening as they did in the series. I'll get into detail with that in my review of the last OVA. Overall, if I didn't see Tenchi Muyo from the get go, I probably would have made this my #1 choice for anime series. I do hold it in high standards since the story was very well written. As for overall art and animation, old school is fine with me. I see no silly SDs so it take a little more serious approach while still maintaining the comedy. Definitely a top 10 pick in my list, if not, top 5. I know this title is out of print from AnimEigo so you'll have to go through eBay or something. If you can't buy it, at least rent it. For those who like Tenchi and who are more dub than sub, get this title and you'll see why most people like the original jap dub.

Last updated Tuesday, September 12 2006. Created Friday, August 04 2006.
Rent 8 8 8 8 8 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:321#436]

In my quest to continue to expand my classic anime knowledge, I pushed KOR up and watched the series. I enjoy romantic comedy series, especially if the romance part of the story is advanced. Fortunately this mostly succeeds on that front.

Unlike a title like Maison Ikkoku with its multiple love-triangles, KOR has only one between Kasuga (Kyosuke), Hikaru-chan, and Madoka ("Ayukawa" as Kasuga calls her). Kasuga and his family have "power," which basically means they have psychic abilities. Kasuga can teleport and use telekenisis. I wasn't sure that I'd like this aspect of the show, but for the most part it was used pretty well. I'll go more into that later.

Madoka is a delinquent, though an attractive one and a smart one. However when Kasuga (and thus us) meets her for the first time, this element of her is unknown. She looks and acts completely normal and it is a suprise when Kasuga learns her true nature. But while most everyone else is either afraid of her or shun her, Kasuga is not and when he finds her smoking, he puts a stop to it. Thus he makes a strong mark upon Madoka and why she becomes interested in him.

Hikaru-chan is a year or so younger than Madoka and Kasuga, which is why when she isn't calling Kasuga, "Darling," she calls him "Senpai." Her interest in Kasuga results solely from witnessing him use his power to shoot a basket in an empty gym will sitting on the floor. Obviously for her, this means he is cool and manly, thus worthy of being her boyfriend.

The love-triangle is understandable early on in the series. Madoka is sometimes warm and friendly to Kasuga, as she was at their initial meeting, and obviously he likes this part of her. However at other times, she will be cold to him, almost becoming a totally different person. So when the cute Hikaru-chan suddenly pours affection upon Kasuga and begins to call him "Darling" (because she has declared him to be her boyfriend), it is understandable that he'd go out with her.

As time goes on, Madoka becomes friendly most of the time to Kasuga. He clearly appreciates this and at this point, it is clear that he prefers Madoka to Hikaru-chan. He becomes less comfortable of Hikaru-chan's public displays of affection to him, especially when Madoka is around. However, the love-triangle still works because Kasuga isn't completely sure of Madoka (IMO) and thus Hikaru-chan is a "sure" backup in case things don't go well with Madoka. Still, I don't think I could have done this because Hikaru-chan's voice just grated on my nerves!

The series does waste a lot of time not working on the love-triangle, something Devil Doll noted. For example, episode 29 is dedicated to the cat Jingoro. While I love old Jingoro-chan, did we really need an entire episode devoted to him? Even as the show is winding down, there were a lot of dumb "fast-forward" episodes which I found more offensive due to the lack of work on a resolution of the love-triangle. By this point, Kasuga is clearly in love with Madoka and she with him. However, even when presented with an opportunity to break things with Hikaru-chan, he never does. In fact, he'll leave Madoka standing there to run off after her. What the smeg is that about? No sooner than he patches things up with her, he immediately shows signs of disliking her clinging to him especially in front of Madoko. So why chase after her? To spare her feelings? I suppose that's the answer since Hikaru-chan is dumber than a stump and will believe anything given to her as an explaination. That aside, it still doesn't feel very "real" and is a major weakness of the series.

The final two episodes give a resolution to things, though not as straight-forward as I would have liked. While these two episodes a stretch as far as everything that happened, I decided I liked them for the, "We have something to tell our kids and grandkids" aspect.

The supporting cast is rather weak. Yuusuke (voiced by Tenchi seiyuu KIKUCHI Masami) was annoying with his constant rage and chasing after Hikaru-chan. Komasu & Hatta were annoying because even though they were supposedly Kasuga's friend, they never had his back. They only are around because of Kasuga's younger twin-sisters Manami-chan & Kurumi-chan. Kurumi-chan annoyed me with her constant, "Datte! Datte!" spoiled-brat routine when being scolded for blatently using her powers. Ushiko-san and Umao-san, who constantly quote the famous Romeo and Juliet lines in Japanese, show up in nearly every episode. At first it was neat, but then it began to grate on my nerves. They only serve to say the same lines over and over, but in different situations. Kasuga's little cousin Kazuya annoyed me whenever he appeared on screen. The only supporting character worth anything was Master (term used for one behind the bar serving the drinks). He was like a mentor to both Kasuga and Madoka, and I wouldn't have minded to have learned more about him.

Art, animation, and music are good for the time-period this was created. The music is pure 80's pop, and even though it is J-Pop, I felt like I was in high school again listening to some new tunes. ^_^ The director of the series gave the animators a cheap, effective way to save costs. Rather than the normal still pan-and-scan shots that we might see in a TV series, still-shots are matted to provide focus for Kasuga to narrate over. This was very clever as it allowed the animation budget to be spent wiser.

As to the DVD release, there is NO English dub. The subtitles are pretty good though. While AnimEigo won't use the normal honorifics in the subtitles, fortunately they did use "senpai" and various forms of "older brother" & "older sister"(-niichan, oniichan, oneesama, etc.).

Bottom line: Overall, this was a fun ride. There are a lot of weaknesses, but Madoka is a great character and watching her fall in love with Kasuga-kun made it worth while. As such, I give this a rent.

Last updated Saturday, March 18 2006. Created Wednesday, December 21 2005.

Rent 7 8 8 7 8 7 Devil Doll [series:321#752]
[Score: 76%]

Usually I shy away from overly long series, but this one is a real classic of the Romantic Comedy genre. With the strange starting positions of what I consider to be the leads, I am surprised how quickly I became attached to the story.

The characters:
  • Kyosuke's isn't just the ignorant male lead of many similar stories, he's quite aware of his flaws and able to take responsibility if necessary, and has a good sense of finding out how to make up for his mistakes without even asking the victim. His downside is the handling of the "power" which he sometimes uses to get some advantage and sometimes is afraid of (as revealing his power to society would cost him and his family everything). What's more, he's embarrassingly naive, taken in by each and every trick being played on him, which often provides the only explanation for an episode story to be possible at all; somehow I can't ease into this trait of his.
  • Hikaru ("glittering"), Kyosuke's self-proclaimed official steady girlfriend, is little more than an annoying brat, possessive and sticking like a limpet, suffocating her "darling" with permanent display of affection in public, and always willing to accept whatever excuse she might be given for Kyosuke's awkward behavior. IMHO the weakest aspect of the story is how Kyosuke can credibly like her as much as her rival.
  • Madoka ("tranquil"), on the other hand, was to be considered a freak at first but soon turned out to be a reasonable, calm, sincere, compassionate girl; at the same time she is neither a whimp nor boring - she is self-confident, playful and teasing, able to beat up a whole gang of bad guys alone if necessary, but also acting a lot more mature than Kyosuke in many scenes (which is another of the boy's main problems).
  • Yuusuke, childhood friend of both girls, is desperately in love with Hikaru but completely off her radar screen. He's acting jealously whenever anyone comes close to his love, threatening to beat up his rival every now and then, while being bossed around by Hikaru at the same time, and thus acting as comical relief. He completes the second triangle.
  • Manami & Kurumi (Kyosuke's cute and funny twin sisters) are a refreshing ingredient to the recipe; Manami saved the day in more than one one episode whereas Kurumi almost spilled the beans a number of times.
  • Komasu & Hatta (Kyosuke's perverted classmates) complete the main staff; they're too ecchi and too unreliable for being true friends, and thus it remains irreproducible that they're treated as such despite having caused so much damage to Kyosuke in many episodes (most notably episodes 36 and 42).
  • Of the side characters, the most interesting one is "Master" who runs the Abcb shop (read: "Abacab", a tribute to the Genesis album) where Kyosuke and Madoka are working part-time - he's some relative of Madoka's, thus supporting her if necessary, and his comments on the situation are always interesting. Most other side characters, especially Kyosuke's relatives, are much less of my liking: Cousin Kazuya can easily kill each episode with his supernatural abilities and turn it into a nightmare of embarrassment for Kyosuke, and grandfather's influence on the story is similarly awkward. But watch out for the marvellous couple of Ushiko-san and Umao-san, the running gag of the show, repeating the same Shakespearian lines in ever new situations of each episode.
The art looks really old (character designs even pre-Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon or Video Girl Ai), but especially Madoka looks cute when she smiles (and even when she's angry ;-). The animation flows rather smoothly, even the walking is done reasonably; all in all the production looks much better than what I expected from an 18 years old TV series.
The music is loaded with jazz (which I don't like) and disco/funk, including the second ED song in use from episode 20 on (as there are a number of scenes with disco visits), creating an intimate mood at certain situations without feeling overly forced, and providing a number of songs whose lyrics are mirroring the thoughts of the lovers at this moment; Madoka being a musician herself (playing saxophone whenever she feels lonely) and the daughter of famous musicians is part of several episode stories.
The fan-service here is of a different type than in more recent Romantic Comedies - less offensive and over the top, more funny and teasing; intelligent fan-service, so to say: Ecchi situations or thoughts by Kyosuke every now and then, but no frontal nudity, breast grabbing or pantsu shots - and mostly reasonably called for by the circumstances. An interesting experience, and maybe a reason alone to watch this series. Just take the camera angle they used to show the final kiss...
Though sounding like spoilers, the extensive episode titles are actually misleading for many episodes, and thus quite funny. But try to avoid watching the episode previews at any cost - they're in fact horribly spoilerish, killing each and every surprise of the forthcoming episode.

Let's break down the series into "seasons" of sorts:
  • Episodes 01-12 are setting up the scenario: Kyosuke and Madoka meet and get to know each other; Hikaru intervenes (due to some accident), claiming Kyosuke as her "darling" in public, which Kyosuke hesitatingly accepts (despite his embarrassment). Episode 12 almost provides a possible solution to the problem - then again, not really. Consequently,
  • Episodes 13-23 develop the triangle. Hikaru is in tunnel vision, clinging to her darling; Madoka slowly develops feelings for Kyosuke but is kept on hold due to her "older sister" relation with her childhood friend Hikaru. At times she cautiously approaches Kyosuke, but every time when Hikaru is in trouble Maduka withdraws from the scene. Kyosuke begins to like Madoka more and more, approaching her and even dating both girls at the same time, but strangely never takes breaking up with Hikaru into consideration. Even though Kyosuke gets into serious trouble every now and then, this part of the series is focussing on the development of the romance, providing a lot more drama than, say, Ai Yori Aoshi or most parts of Love Hina while at the same time providing nice comedy elements (mainly through the side characters providing enough catalytic effect for the leads to get into ever new interesting situations). The psychics elements are used sparingly and mostly reasonably in this section, just as to show that real problems can't be solved just by magic. There's not a single filler episode during the first half of the series, until
  • Episodes 24-32 allow the comical relief element to take control of the series. From this point on the importance of the "power" for the course of episodes increases dramatically, and plausibility suffers a lot because of that, putting the focus more on the comedy and neglecting the drama. We get a number of filler episodes there, introducing more guest characters (such as Kyosuke's telepathic cousin Kasuga) and providing several side stories (such as the first love experiences for each of Kyosuke's younger twin sisters). The lead characters' development almost comes to a standstill; consequently these episodes were basically a waste of time for me. Fortunately,
  • Episodes 33-41 lead us back to the drama. Every episode now walks the thin line of destroying either the unstable balance between the girls or the secret of the "power", or both - but providing a surprising yet plausible turnaround at the end. Madoka doesn't get that much screen time but she continues to do the right things whenever possible - and she's no longer protecting Hikaru at all cost now. No sooner than in episode 41 we get to know her thoughts and feelings for the first time in this series! And Kyosuke is trying to avoid the inevitable - to make one of the two girls feel lonely and desperate. And finally,
  • Episodes 42-48 provide the fantasy section of the series, including answers to questions that were open since episode 1. Now the relation between Kyosuke and Hikaru is called into question every time without bringing Kyosuke and Madoka any closer together - it becomes irksome to see the inevitable being delayed by ever changing and ever less plausible scenarios, as the influence of supernatural effects is sky-rocketing. Several of these episodes I'd consider fillers; episode 45 is the weakest one of the whole series, completely depending on the "power", and so unrealistic that Kyosuke (who's aware of the "power" himself after all!) should have seen it coming in time. The circle is being closed in the fantasy-heavy final double episode's wild ride, but I consider the development overly forced here. Too many things just get out of hand.
How can Kyosuke plausibly remain undecided between these two girls for the equivalent of 56 episodes (including the 4+4 episodes of Kimagure Orange Road OVA 1 and Kimagure Orange Road OVA 2), and how can Hikaru be so incredibly clueless as to remain unaware of the growing love between her "darling" and her best friend? (The conversations between the girls are one highlight of this series, as Hikaru is so dense as to say exactly what will hurt Madoka most, sometimes even while hugging her friend thankfully... and Madoka silently takes the beating every time.) This is the downside of the series: It just takes forever for the obvious things to happen. And even though the triangle is the most important part of the story, this series remains a Romantic Comedy, and thus a lot less serious than, say, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien - rather a Suzuka-like romance in some Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon fantasy setting. So in the end, this is a series containing lots of wonderful episodes, but lots of disappointing ones as well, and leaves the solution of the main problem to Kimagure Orange Road: Ano hi ni Kaeritai, with all important characters remaining unfinished.

Last updated Tuesday, December 18 2007. Created Tuesday, August 09 2005.
Unevaluated Forbin [series:321#1573]
Drama : Med
Comedy : Med
Action : None
SciFi : Med
Ecchi : Low

8 Episodes Watched
So far this is a very good series. 2 discs in and I'm hooked. I won't give it a proper rating yet but so far it is right between Rent and Buy.

I love the drama unfolding, boy likes girl, girl likes boy, girl's best friend LOVES boy. You know what, this is an early version of KGNE without the car accident.

More later after I rent the other discs.

Last updated Sunday, May 22 2005. Created Sunday, May 22 2005.
Buy 9 7 8 8 8 7 MIAddit [series:321#1227]
KOR remain fan favorite over the last 2 decade. And it should be.
Manga has 18 volume and covers junior and high school years.
TV series is concentrated with the same charactors but limited to last year of junior high.
OAVs and the movie take the characters to high school graduation.
This review will only cover the TV series.
The TV series start out with very crude animation. It improves as the series progresses. Voice acting (Japanese) is average to good. Most the emotions are expressed in the voices.
Stories are a bit close to the wacky/silly side mainly because all the ESP abilities used by the characters. It's far fetched sometimes but the great love story is what keep you coming back for more.
It's true that close to end of series, the writers are running out of ideas. As with many anime during those days, there're a few filler episodes that doesn't contribute to the story line but still quite funny to watch (Top Gun meet Godzilla or Christmas episode comes to mind). The ending episode is great but probably shouldn't be stretched into 2 parts like it did (with some fan service in the last episode).
Overall, it's very addicting and I recommend at least a rent. Along with Maison Ikkoku, this is another great romanic comedy classic that will forever stay in your heart.

Last updated Tuesday, February 17 2004. Created Tuesday, February 17 2004.
Buy 8 7 8 7 8 Jan-Chan [series:321#967]
There are a lot of the older animated series that deserve to be buried and long forgotten, but there are some very unusual gems that were released long ago, that just refuse to be lost and forgotten.


The KOR series is one such series. It is already over twenty years old, and still maintains a special charm that appears to defy the years. I have come to understand that this series is a classic in the romance category and that it might best be considered as a want-tohave-in-my-collection series for the serious anime collector. In any event, it is a very good and a very entertaining series despite its age.


It is a story of a three way teenage high school love affair between Kuosuke, Madoka and Hikaru. Kuosuke thinks that he really likes the dark haired and moody Madoka, but the younger and more bubbly Hikaru has decided that Kuosuke is her darling, and insists telling everyone that they are a hot item. While Kuosuke and Madoka seem to enjoy each others company, her moodiness and her apparent ambivalence makes it difficult to understand how she feels about Kuosuke. To only further complicate the situation, Madoka has a long history with Hikaru and is very protective her. Hikaru is very honest and open about her feelings for Kousuke, which makes her very hard to ignore. And each girl makes it very clear to Kuosuke how unhappy they are if he happens to pay too much attention to the other, which has Kuouske attempting to walk a very cautious line of a three way friendship.


This story line focuses in on the friendship between the three, how difficult it is for them maintain a three-way balance and how, despite their best efforts, their relationship changes over time. But in the end, one of the two girls will end up with Kuouske and someone will be hurt.


There is a secondary story line in the series in which Kuosuke and his family have to hide the fact that they are powerful psychics who can teleport and use telekinesis to move and control objects at a distance. And Kuosuke also has two younger sisters who prove to be very good at getting their big brother into trouble or getting into situations which require that a rescue.


The series is now available in a 6 - DVD release that cover the basic 36 episodes and three OVAs. The last three episodes of the 36 episode TV series is very special in that the relationship between Kuouske and one of two girls takes on a special meaning (BIG time plot spoiler!!!!). There are about 10 OVAs that serve only to prolong the TV series and introduce new characters. The OVA (VHS only - AnimEigo website) release I want to return to that Day covers the breakup between the three during the time when Kuouske has to decide between the two, and confront the difficulty of having to say unhappy words to a good friend of many years. The OVA dubbed DVD (ADV films) release Three lovers, two lives, across a sea of time brings the three together again and allows us to peek into the life of an older Kuouske to see how he is doing and how the grand romance of many years has evolved.

Last updated Sunday, September 21 2008. Created Sunday, September 14 2003.
Buy 7 8 8 8 8 Kaitou Juliet [series:321#137]

I started this series with some misgivings. I hadn't watched much anime from the 1980s before, and I don't usually like love triangle stories. But KOR won me over with its characters, charm, and its wonderful mix of humor and drama.

At first, the artwork looked dated to me, but a low-key series like this doesn't require a lot of razzle-dazzle. Kyosuke's family is very funny and the situations they get into are amusing. It's really the characters that drive a story like this, and I found that I quickly developed affection for them.

I'm giving this a "buy." I recommend at least renting it, even if you don't usually like older anime or romantic anime. It just may surprise you.



Last updated Friday, October 18 2002. Created Tuesday, August 28 2001.

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