Aion
Time-Traveller
In order to be fair here and defend another male, guys only act like they're interested in what you're saying when, in fact, all they want to do is look at your boobs... Unless the guy in question is gay, or the boobs in question are on a man. No-one likes hairy boobs.
Recently, as well as me continuing to age and, slowly but surely, entering the realm of becoming a dirty old man; thinking sickening thoughts about all these 2D Japanese school girls with belts for skirts, my 'inner woman' has started to come out more and more.
Truth be told, I've always had a soft spot for romance. You might find this hard to believe but I transform into a teenage girl when it comes to 'WILL THEY OR WON'T THEY DO IT!?' tales of love woes. Whether it be a man's take on romance (Love Hina) or a woman's (Mars), I'm REALLY able to get my teeth into the sort of story where you're meant to get behind an indecisive/weak-minded lead and cheer him/her on as they make a valiant attempt to evolve from a pussy into a tiger.
What's re-started my love of rom-coms/intense love triangle drama is Secondspin; the AWESOME store that has basically become my anime dealer. First I ordered 'If I See You In My Dreams', then it was 'Peach Girl' and today I had my first taste of 'I''s'.
If I See You In My Dreams is your typical male-drawn romantic comedy. What I mean by that is it's a story about a complete, HUUUUUUUUGE glasses-wearing loser falling in love with a random hot chick... and, despite logic suggesting no hot chick would even consider doing someone who looks like a loser (unless he's very rich, that is), the loser was able to win the heart of a young woman who, until her encounter with the loser, had lived the life of an in-the-closet lesbian; going to an all-girl school and never having a relationship. It's the sort of story that deadly serious, 'THIS CANNOT HAPPEN IN MY REALITY! I DROP NOW AND 1/10 TO SHOW MY SMARTS!!!!!' people would hate with passion... but, as luck would have it, I'm down with anything that's amusing AND plays with my heart-strings a little, and the similarities between it and Maison Ikkoku make me reading the manga at a later date pretty much a certainty.
Peach Girl I've already covered in detail in another blog post. In short, unlike what I described in the above paragraph, it was written by a part of the female species, and it showed. The lead is a girl, there's no needless nudity, there's the sort of drama the more girly among us eat-up like my dog eats after I starve her for a week and, basically, it was made by a female and aimed at females. It did have some amusing comedy but, unlike in rom-coms, drama was always the main focus.
This is the expression I have when I glance over my lists and realize what, exactly, I'm rating highly. I then feel the need to check my 'equipment' is correct...
...So, what of I''s; the anime(s) I actually made this blog post about, despite me having rambled about much of nothing for a good number of paragraphs? Well, it's sort of in-between the other two titles mentioned. You can tell it was drawn by a guy because of the ecchi extras, art style (which is LOVELY, by the way!) and the fact it has a male lead, but there is a sense of realism included that's lacking in the case of titles like 'If I See You In My Dreams'. The lead isn't some freak of nature with glasses so large even my grandmother would be ashamed to wear, and he's an easy enough guy to relate to: nothing special, horny - your average teenage guy.
Before moving on, some OVA confusion needs to be cleared up. When I sat down to watch my DVDs many hours earlier, I was left totally confused as to which disc to watch first: 'I''s' or 'I''s Pure'. The back of the case was as much help as an armless man trying to help an old lady across the road, and I was forced to turn to the internet for answers. It turned out that I''s Pure is a full-on, three hour adaptation of the 15 volume manga, while I's is some cheesy averageness. In the end, I did what was suggested and started with Pure.
(Also, FYI, I''s has two apostrophes in its title because there are three important characters, each with 'I' as their initial, who form a love triangle. I know you, the reader, wanted to know, and I felt compelled to inform you. There's no need to thank me.)
If I ever go to Japan and find myself in a situation like this, those hours put into MGS sure would come in handy...
Talking of starts, what I liked the most about Pure was its start. Or, to be more precise, I liked how those that planned the OVA set it up in a way that kept everything needed, without me feeling like I was missing a beat or two. Y'see, Pure gets going at night; on Christmas Eve. The lead of this drama-filled story, Ichitaka, is waiting for his best friend. When the friend arrives, they chat as they wait for their other two friends, and their conversation drifts to Ichitaka's love woes, and how it all started some two years before. The focus then changes to two years ago, and as the story progresses the present/past of the story continue to interchange as the past catches up to the present. Eventually, all four friends meet-up with each other, and then the real drama begins to unfold...
By executing the OVA in this manner, rather than it seeming like the OVA was speeding through the manga content in a desperate attempt to cram everything into three hours, it seemed to me - someone not experienced with the manga - like excellent character development was being added, bit by bit, as the time for Ichitaka to go for gold with the love of his life came closer. And when the story did move beyond the flashback stage, I was tense as hell because seeing all the previous failings of Ichitaka had made me desperate to see him and Iori, his beloved, get it on.
If this ever happens to you, and you resist, you're gay. Deal with it.
What I liked about the relationship shared by Ichitaka and Iori was how believable Ichitaka's actions were. I admit; he did start to annoy me more than Momo from Peach Girl after he spent over 30 minutes NOT saying the magic words required for legs to spread like a complete and utter retarded retard, but, early on in particular, a lot of his actions struck a chord with me. For instance, in spite of him being madly in love with Iori, when he was paired with her to plan something for the school and had to work/speak with her for the first time, he gave her the cold shoulder; leading her to believe he hated her. It's weird how it's natural to some to be a dick to those they like the most in an attempt to avoid embarrassment...
In terms of the female characters, however, I was left a little disappointed. As a result of the story being told from the perspective of a guy, the ladies didn't get fleshed out like shoujo leads do, and that left Iori being more of a cute 'dream girl' type, as opposed to a real person. And the other important female - Itsuki; a tomboy and childhood friend from Ichitaka's past - was your a typical 'childhood friend who, for reasons unknown, wants only the penis of the boy she played with (...that was NOT meant to sound dirty!) as a tween'. I can't really highlight this as a major negative when Pure is, despite it not coming across that way, a speed-run through a lengthy manga, but it would've been nice if some shoujo-esque emotional development had been mixed in with the drama and lulz. I'm hoping that, whenever I read the manga, I discover that it features more in-depth development, as opposed to just a hell of a lot more comedy than could be fitted into Pure.
Unless you have a sister, in real life near-naked girls don't randomly walk into your house/room. It's a sad but very true fact of life.
...Oh, yes - drama and lulz. Having watched this only a few days after sitting with my hands clasped together in prayer during the latter stages of Peach Girl, watching Pure made me seriously consider how much drama Japanese school girls must have to endure. If they aren't having men attempt to 'persuade' them into having sex with them on a daily basis, they have to deal with stalkers trying to kill them, kidnapping and more love drama than any stressed-out high school student should be able to deal with without breaking down. At the very least, by watching Pure I learned that it's unwise to talk to the girl you like on the school roof... when it's windy, and you're holding an edited photo; one showing the girl's face on top of a naked model. (If you try, it's possible to learn something new every day!)
Moving back to more important matters for a moment, I've already expressed how I was feeling tense when the flashbacks ended and the story got going, and it's an understatement to say watching Pure was a test of my emotions. If I wasn't being frustrated by having to endure a phone call preventing Ichitaka's confession (x10), or Iori's agent (her being an actress/model) trying to get in the way of young love, I was left wanting to slap Ichitaka for trying to do the right thing and ending up doing the wrong thing like a complete ******* idiot. I knew there was no way in hell such a story would end without the main two getting together, sure, but that didn't stop me acting like the teenage girl I truly am; underneath all the chest hair.
While on the subject of Pure's ending, it kind of bothered me that Ichitaka and Iori weren't shown kissing; not even once. For some weird reason, the series actually ended with the two holding hands in such a way that it seemed like they were shaking hands. If there's no tongue-tango on show in the manga, after I read through all 15 volumes, I'll cry myself to sleep. The mangaka is a serious arse if he built-up to the two getting together for so long and never had them seal the deal...
This is what Mr. Mangaka will need to do if the ending isn't a fair bit better in the manga.
...What haven't I covered yet?... THE VISUALS!!! THE BOOBS!!!!!!!
Visually, Pure looks verrrrrrrrry nice. The artwork is so good that the females actually looked sexy, and I found myself pondering why hentai often looks horrible in comparison (hey - I'm a guy!). The detail put into the panties in the end-of-episode extras in particular is worth noting. I was also impressed by the striking colours, the fact background people in crowded areas actually moved (you notice such things after watching anime for awhile, sadly...) and the range of expressions displayed by the characters. Watching Pure made me want to read the manga simply because of the high quality artwork, and the only negative I can think of about the show visually is the the way a few early scenes had parts of the screen 'cut' in some sort of attempt at being stylish. For having schools girls on the same level as GTO's, I give Pure a +10.
And, FINALLY (with regards to Pure, anyway...), the ecchi. Going on a few scans from the manga I've seen floating around, it seems like everything perverted was chucked into some short, end-of-episode extras; extras where Ichitaka had very vivid dreams involving the girls he wanted to exercise with the most. I have to say, the up-close crotch/panty shots, and the detailed panties, made me abuse the 'A-to-B' function on my DVD player's remote. I know; I'm going to hell, but you'd understand if you watched what I did! (The actual PROPER episodes were pretty much tasteful, aside from the usual 'OH NOES! I'M IN THE HOT SPRINGS WITH GIRLS, I'M BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE - HEEEELP!!!!!' bit.) There's a lot to like about I''s; even if your brain doesn't like it so much.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessss. /Arnold Schwarzenegger
Here's the best of the extras ('cause long-haired girls are hot, like):
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(It has Spanish subtitles, but I doubt you need to be psychic to understand the general jist of what's being said!)
Before stopping/giving up, there's one last thing I need to cover: the OTHER I''s OVA. Somewhere far, far... FAR above, I mentioned that the other OVA is best described as cheesy averageness, and that pretty much sums it up. It was created by a seemingly totally different animation team and, basically, it's a 60 minute story about an uninteresting childhood promise. There are some forced, slanty-eyed, biker rapist guys inserted to add drama, but it'd bore anyone who isn't familiar with I''s to tears, in all probability. It also throws the viewer right into the mix; showing some totally pointless still-shots/panning shots that would just leave someone in the dark even more confused, before moving onto the fairly boring story that gets covered. The most bothersome thing about watching it was noticing how poor it looked in comparison to Pure: the characters looked smaller/younger, everything was overly bright (the blacks looked gray) and, instead of the 'background movement' on show in Pure, this I''s OVA had frozen statues standing around. It's little wonder its average on MAL is close to 6/10...
...ARGGHHH, MY EYES!!!! TURN OFF THE LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...Ok, I'm done. To sum this needlessly lengthy blog post up, Pure is incredibly underrated with its score on MAL; it being one of the better romantic dramas I've come across so far. I'm actually very surprised, considering it has ecchi and MAL members tend to only know how to use 10's. I'm glad I decided to try my luck after seeing it being sold for cheap used; ending up getting an as-new set for far less than the new prices, and I STRONGLY recommend any guys reading this/still awake go look-up Pure. Your brain and/or penis won't regret it!
Here are some extra images - one showing why I'm going to read the manga and the other highlighting just why my penis enjoyed the short, one minute extra episodes:
