Well so far, this one an early winner.
“Juunichi’s in an arranged marriage, and his fiancé unexpectedly shows up at his school as a transfer student one day. The two immediately get into a huge fight and want nothing to do with each other. Their parents lay down the law and order the two to begin regularly going out together, which only brings more problems and chaos to their lives.”
Naturally, the first thing I think of is Ai Yori Aoshi, with a twist — and maybe it will end up that way. This is (unsurprisingly) a hentai high-school romance game adaptation with more pretty girls than you can shake a stick at. (Edit: Mild fanservice, mostly hemline-level shots, but no panties at all.) Therefore, you’ll excuse me if I was completely confused by the opening, which involved a guy breaking into what appeared to be a nuclear power plant, freeing a hostage, and escaping while said plant blows up. If they were doing an action show, that was not a bad segment at all. (Much superior to the opening of Casshern, about which the less said, the better.)
I think it’s going to turn out that the hero of that segment, and the foxy adult woman we see working with that hero in the OP, are Juunichi’s secret-agent parents. At least it would explain why he and his too cute-and-spunky-for-words sister are alone in their house. However, the blurb is a bit of a spoiler, as it’s obvious that the two protagonists don’t know (or perhaps remember) each other at all. Thanks to a random encounter, they’re actually on the way to developing a positive relationship, but you know that can’t happen, otherwise where’s the comedy? Oh, right, Ai Yori Aohsi. (Like I said, “where’s the comedy?”)
Tongues start wagging at the school when everyone realizes the cute new rich transfer student knows the school’s most famous delinquent — although they don’t recognize each other, he helped her out in a pinch the day before. There’s an element of attraction, which Katagiri is trying to deny, when Juunichi’s brain short-circuits and he gets ahead of himself (and her) by a few light years. Forget “wrathful loli,” Katagiri — oh wait, don’t forget the term, she’s voiced by Rie Kugimiya — unloads on him with murderous intent. If it weren’t for knowing, “Hey, that’s Rie Kugimyia,” a viewer could be excused for being surprised by the character at that point. Katagiri actually has a somewhat weak, sweet and innocent, easily flustered side to her, and it’s all we’ve seen up until that point. It’s just that romance comedies require either a yandere or a tsundere, and she’s playing the former for once, not the latter. She’s an unassuming, very polite oujo-sama — until the gloves come off, and then the pain starts.
Despite that rather clichéd element, the writing and dialogue in the first episode is a joy. Whether it’s little sister Minato (played by Aya Hirano) scolding Juunichi for skipping his homework, or his somewhat Ishigari-like (ref. Yumeria) homeroom teacher doing the same (and purposely tossing in yaoi vibes just to get Yuuichi’s goat), or his friends spreading the ridiculous legend of “Geno Killer” by which they’ve given the unassuming Juunichi a fearsome reputation, as of the first episode, this show has taken the usual stale elements of a romantic comedy and made them look fresh and new.
Without the blurb, you’d have no idea that there’s an arranged marriage set up. It’s not exactly referenced, and there’s no scenes to explain it. After everything’s happened, and Juunichi’s nursing a headache from Katagiri’s violent outburst, everyone is surprised when she shows up on his doorstep with a suitcase and announces that she’s his fiancé — and moving in.
And of course we end with another mysterious segment, in which it’s obvious someone is spying on them. But are the mecha and UFO we see in the OP/ED actually elements in the story? And is the alter ego in Juunichi’s head (do you know how hard it is not to type “Yuuichi” every damn time?) for real, or just a bit of poetic license? Probably the latter, but I can’t rule it out…
Can this series keep it up? We shall see…
Edited the above for a bit of clarity. Also, I’m probably going to check Kannagi and Kurrogane no Linebarrel next, but that’s tomorrow. It’s past Ubu’s bed time right now.
Thank you for the informative post. I was cursing Eclipse’s decision to sub this earlier instead of Index, but after a friend told me that they’re subbing it too (from the horse’s mouth) I wouldn’t mind giving this a try.
How’s peripheral things like animation, music, character design seem to you?
Character design is ok; the girls don’t all quite seem to be poured out of the same mold (though close at times), nor do they hit extremes of DFC vs busts measured in meters. Minato could probably be exchanged for the younger sister in virtually any other harem comedy, though her personality is a bit more gently assertive than most. Animation was very average. No really obvious cheap pan-n-scans, but not a lot of extras either. No matter how windblown the girls’ hair looks, it never actually moves. (Painfully obvious in a very early scene).
Music… typical romantic j-pop opening and closer; I could stand to add them to my list. Honestly, I paid no attention to the background music at all, which is the way I like it. Unless the music is the story (or the story is epic), the music should be unnoticed beyond the mood it helps create.
I remain thoroughly surprised at the lack of fanservice for something with a hentai pedigree. No panties, no cleavage, just a few closeups of hemlines. It looks like the studio wants to make this series work on the strength of their writing — which, until the ending segment, was looking pretty good.
After episode one I think I was all “-______________-” (read: nonplussed) at the presentation, and have decided to give this one a miss until I hear people ranting and raving about it. Do keep us updated with more Akasaka posts–there aren’t enough proper ones out there, and your thorough writing is much appreciated.
Thanks. Considering how poorly I write at times, the standards for anime-blogging must be pretty low!
I had a couple more things to say, but then it got involved…