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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
 Bryan
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[series:198#14] | |
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This is an interesting anime. Ive not seen anything quite like it before. Also, I have no idea who did it, neither the anime studio nor the manga artist. And I dont know when it was released. The show has something of a late 80s feel to it, however. Lets start with the bad. The op is simply pathetic. In fact, the first time I watched it, I had already suffered through the first show on the tape, Five Star Stories. When this horrible op started, with an Eye of the Tiger sounding song and just a couple grayscale-like images cycling with a strange fade effect, I said enough and went to bed. I tried again a couple days later, and what a surprise! This is a clever show with a whimsical air that I really enjoyed. As I said in the synopsis, Ryoutaro has just moved into a new neighborhood. The first time he sees his neighbor, she is beautiful, with long flowing hair and a general radiance. The next time they meet, her hair is short and he mistakes her for a possible younger brother (I still dont see how). This leads to a well done scene where she challenges him to kick a soccer ball far enough that she cant catch it. She begins to see a boxing ability in Ryoutaru and signs him up for the boxing club, calling him an expert boxer. He gets drubbed for this impertinent resume, but he learns that he does have an ability to see peoples punches coming, something Nazomi calls Ryoutaishiryoku. She discovers this after he socks her in the eye. Not on purpose, shes just so fast he didnt think hed hit her. There are a couple of strange, sort of whimsical scenes where Nazomis skirt, erm, flaps a little high in the breeze. There are no naughty bits or anything. All this is showing is the bourgeoning sexual attraction Ryoutaro feels for her, but in an innocent way. I loved this approach. There are some oddly silly scenes. Ryoutaro tends to bounce around a lot and grab his pants when he has to use the bathroom, which is rather often for some reason. A couple of his boxing opponents are a bit strange as well. I dont like seeing silly scenes in a show that establishes that it can actually be subtle, but so it goes. Both main characters have past events which are hinted at, but not developed in the first OAV, which gives me something to look forward to. I gather this is a three part OAV and I am going to try and find the rest. All in all, a pretty good show. Last updated Thursday, September 28 2000. Created Tuesday, September 26 2000. | ||||||||
