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Old 2012-10-14, 14:27   Link #101
RainbowMagnet
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Wasn't planning on watching this, but did so anyways because of the positive comments and I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm really liking the main character Mei. She kind of reminds me of Shizuku in the aspect of being somewhat anti-social and I'm looking forward to her opening up over the course of the show. Yamato on the other hand is decent. I was never really fond of the popular, super handsome guy is love interest for the female protagonist, and for some reason his hair really bugs me. It's like he has a bad hair day every day..
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Old 2012-10-14, 19:57   Link #102
mitsuganae
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Oy vey, I don't think a second episode has turned me off so utterly before. Mei has more negative traits (pushover/blubbering-blushing mess/stalker/jealous/too "feminine" in a stereotypically conservative way) than positive ones (has a steady source of strength/can read people well enough if she chooses to). At this point, Yamato isn't much more than a vanilla nice guy who needs some lessons on the perceived weight of courting rituals.

And yes, we know that everyone has problems, including popular guys and big-breasted girls. But in terms of demonstrating this point, Prince and the Pauper this is not.

A straight romantic (melo)drama shouldn't be straightjacketed into such levels of charmlessness. Methinks this franchise is too earnest for its own good.

I'll give it a few more episodes to see if it improves, but signs are not encouraging.

Last edited by mitsuganae; 2012-10-14 at 20:22.
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Old 2012-10-15, 01:27   Link #103
gecd
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat View Post

Unfortunately, for romance purists (who want straight romance, without any deviations, misunderstandings, complicated drama), I don't think this a series for you. Was the same deal with Bokura ga ita (and the reason why it got a bit of hate from certain audiences), and it's pretty much the same here. But if you're a fan of drama with ups and downs, twists and turns, highs and lows, heartwarming to rageworthy, then this is DEFINITELY for you. Tyvm Deikan, you were right, this is top class.
do-dont tell me it will become more like Kimi no iru machi
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Old 2012-10-15, 13:36   Link #104
HuNGaricum
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well, I just caught up and my feelings for this are pretty ambivalent:

On one hand I like Nakanishi. He's the likeable dumbass, and up till now he fulfilled both parts of his role. Also Asamicchi is a good character, I sense more drama from the oppai front their relationship has got some potential so if possible please give 'em a proper development. Also, I jumped up in joy when I saw that mail

Mei is absolutely neutral for me...For now...I know that she's got her problems, and she is the main heroine, but... I just don't feel excited when she does her things... Maybe in the future, when she's opened up I might take a liking to her, but definitely not now...

aaand on the other hand I hate Yamato. I just can't stand him and his attitude. I just get the feel that he just goes for the "hardest he can get" trophy, because Mei is of that type. I was at the edge of punching through my screen at that "serious kiss" scene... JUST WTF IS THAT!?!?!?!?! He is just messing around now, probably when he'll get serious and starts to think about stuff he will get better, but until then...

P.S.: I have to mention the seiyuus. this is some quality work we've got here
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Old 2012-10-15, 16:04   Link #105
Bern-san
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Fell in love with the opening. The song is so great.

A bit weird how they mixed chapters 2 and 3, the last scene was the end of chapter 2 and the whole Nakanishi-Asami was chapter 3 though they left out many things.
By the way, wasn't Yamato's hair supposed to be blonde during the flashback? Or at least some sort of light color.
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Old 2012-10-15, 21:17   Link #106
Flower
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Yes indeedy - I agree with the other posters who enjoyed the OP. To be honest it is the first OP of the season I have really liked.

That being said, I must admit that thus far Sukitte is still better for me than Tonari Kaibutsu, but maybe that's no surprise as I also like the manga of Sukitte more than Tonari Kaibutsu as well. Don't get me wrong - Tonari Kaibutsu's manga and anime are both very good ... just prefer the Sukitte.
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Old 2012-10-15, 23:40   Link #107
Kaoru Chujo
Yuuki Aoi
 
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gecd View Post
do-dont tell me it will become more like Kimi no iru machi
No, this is actually shoujo. Seo Kouji's work seems to me like some kind of seinen, or even shounen. I followed that manga for too long, but it was like a drug, providing less and less enjoyment as I went on.

I've made a characters/seiyuus page for this show, with pics of the characters and their seiyuus, and a bit of info about each. Only the five main characters.

Kayanon and Sakurai are clearly the stars (and boy do they shine brightly), but the others are getting the job done, too.

I understand why someone might dislike Yamato. But I'm just seeing him through the bewitched eyes of Mei right now, enjoying his presence and hoping he will come through as having good reasons for some of the ways he acts.
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Old 2012-10-16, 01:39   Link #108
Aesthetic Shampoo
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The shoujo vibes are setting in very heavily now, and that means i have to watch with a sense of dread hanging over me every second.

I really disliked Mei's massive change of character from the first episode, she's just like any other typical girl character ready to be taken advantage of now.
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Old 2012-10-16, 11:34   Link #109
Thor's Hammer
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I chopped off part of my post from somewhere else, but I feel I need to post it here because I feel that the portrayal of Mei's character is a natural progression.

After part of the conversation between Asami and Kenji went by, the show flashed back to Mei, saying something along the lines of “Who am I to be saying such a thing?” and I interpreted that as her believing that it was out of place for her to tell Kenji to express his true feelings for Asami when she is afraid to express her feelings towards Yamato herself. With Yamato being the first person that she made a meaningful interaction with in years and with him being the first significant male in her life since her father passed away, I think she wants to have a meaningful relationship with him. As the episode progressed, Mei found out that Asami had also kissed Yamato, and was told by Asami that Yamato has missed most of the cute girls in the school and that although she liked him, he probably doesn’t feel the same way since he gives kisses away too easily to girls that he doesn’t have feelings for. Mei became increasingly frustrated, and thought that perhaps she was just an outlet for Yamato to express his desires for Arai, and her trust issues began showing, with her glancing at Arai as well as staring at the corner of a hallway when the two of them were conversing. I believe that Mei wants to feel that what they had was special, but she was becoming increasingly doubtful of this.

She went so far as to stalk Yamato and was relieved to see that he wasn’t leaving the building with Arai. She may have heard that he kisses a lot of girls, but she has not seen this yet, and looked like she was out to see if Yamato would betray her (at least in my opinion). Even after seeing that he didn’t come out with Arai, Mei’s body language was not very positive and she was even attempting to leave as the thought that kisses don’t have high value to him probably lingered in her mind. As she stated earlier in the episode, Mei didn’t understand Yamato, but wanted to try and trust him. But, she clearly still has trust issues that were ignited after hearing more about Yamato from Asami. She is sexually attracted to him, which I believe was the point of the scenes emphasizing his lips earlier in the episode, but feared putting herself in harm’s way, which is why she still wished to avoid Yamato after checking up on him. In my opinion, she wants his affections but fears rejection/being just another girl to him. I am not going to defend Yamato for his actions, as they appeared very manipulating and there have probably been others girls who have had qualms about his ability to throw out kisses like that, but I do believe that Mei absolutely wanted to be swept away by him. He seemed so satisfied that Mei told him about how she felt, and I think that was what he intended to happen. At least Yamato had the decency to not kiss Arai, which at least shows that he doesn’t just kiss any girl that he considers attractive.

I am making no comment about whether Yamato is the right person to nurture Mei's well-being, but Yamato is the one that drew her out of isolation, and that is part of the reason for why she desires his affection.
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Old 2012-10-16, 16:04   Link #110
Lord of Fire
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To me, Yamato's moral compass seems a bit broken. He just does whatever he feels like, and doesn't really seem to take the girls' feelings into consideration when he kisses them. I get the impression that it's all part of the game for him, and that he's merely interested in Mei because she is different than all the other girls. And Mei seems to be falling for him, even though his whole "serious kiss" thing could all be part of the act. He's a smooth talker, but I keep getting the feeling there's more to him than meets the eye.
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Old 2012-10-16, 16:09   Link #111
Pen3
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Ritsuko Okazaki was one of my favorite artist and i am glad they brought it back for people who recognize it or new anime watchers.
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Old 2012-10-16, 16:51   Link #112
Kaoru Chujo
Yuuki Aoi
 
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord of Fire View Post
To me, Yamato's moral compass seems a bit broken. He just does whatever he feels like, and doesn't really seem to take the girls' feelings into consideration when he kisses them. I get the impression that it's all part of the game for him, and that he's merely interested in Mei because she is different than all the other girls. And Mei seems to be falling for him, even though his whole "serious kiss" thing could all be part of the act. He's a smooth talker, but I keep getting the feeling there's more to him than meets the eye.
Exactly. The meme here may be "lost bad boy discovers truth and goodness in the person of our heroine." Of course, maybe she will discover badness first, lol.
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Old 2012-10-16, 22:10   Link #113
ars89
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So Mei can kick Yamato, but can't beat up those two girls? Well interesting that she stood up for Asami and even helped out Nakanishi. Liked the last part about how the kiss tasted.
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Old 2012-10-17, 10:42   Link #114
Thor's Hammer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ars89 View Post
So Mei can kick Yamato, but can't beat up those two girls? Well interesting that she stood up for Asami and even helped out Nakanishi. Liked the last part about how the kiss tasted.
Mei typically does not lash out. The reason for why there were repeated flashes to the cumulonimbus clouds in episode 1 right before she kicked Yamato, was to symbolically show that she had built up charge, and was discharging this after a lot of accumulation. It was an occasion where she was unable to keep her cool.
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Old 2012-10-17, 12:35   Link #115
Snuffle
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Insane View Post
I never really excited about shoujo manga adaptation and after gave this show a try, my first opinion is.............boring and too typical old type shoujo story. It's the same old story when a super popular dude falls for super unpopular girl (just reverse it already, you dummy trope!), and the dude is always depicted as overly aggressive hormonal male that have no qualm to steal kiss from the girl (He must be restricting his libido all this time).
Quote:
Originally Posted by EssTEss View Post
The shoujo vibes are setting in very heavily now, and that means i have to watch with a sense of dread hanging over me every second.
It's a very typical setup where there's a really popular good looking and smart guy that probably spends no time studying yet somehow, has good grades, always has time go chase after the girl he's interested in, and will save her from trouble. All things that would trigger the female instincts of attraction.

I'm more interested in the other two characters, Kenji and Asami, they feel more believable to me instead of the two main leads.
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Old 2012-10-17, 13:15   Link #116
Kaoru Chujo
Yuuki Aoi
 
 
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For me, "typical shoujo" = "wonderful." In shounen, you always have the young guy who turns out to have amazing powers. In shoujo, you have the mousy girl who somehow attracts the top guy. In both cases, it's wish fulfillment. And that's what popular entertainment does. No shame in that. But in shoujo, the psychological subtleties and emotional depth are pretty well always an order of magnitude better. At least that's how I perceive it.
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Old 2012-10-17, 13:36   Link #117
Snuffle
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I did not mean to imply that all shoujo is the same, I suppose using the word "typical" was a poor choice of a word to use. I was mainly thinking in the direction of what EssTEss said: "The shoujo vibes are setting in very heavily now." Every shoujo show has varying levels of shoujo content. In this particular show, there is a very heavy presence of it, which was what I was trying to express on how I see it in my previous post.
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Old 2012-10-17, 13:52   Link #118
Thor's Hammer
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Yes, there is a lot of shoujo tropes present in this show. I don't mind though, as I am satisfied with the execution of this show so far.

Is Yamato being inconsistent? No. He was already showing that he is the alpha-male type with his method of intimidating the stalker in episode 1, and some of this continued in episode 2. I don't find Mei's characterization in episode 2 questionable, and even expected her to behave in such a way after the encounter with Asami in the washroom. I can readily believe that Asami and Kenji could hook up that quickly. Since they have both known Yamato during their middle school days, Asami probably has some idea about what sort of character that Kenji is. I really enjoy the seiyuu work as well. The animation quality is a notable flaw though. Shoujo anime tend to have low budgets, and this series is no exception.
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Old 2012-10-17, 16:35   Link #119
germanturkey
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well, i couldn't finish the first ep of tonari. didn't like the character design and the interactions between characters. but i greatly look forward to every ep this show has to offer.
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Old 2012-10-21, 01:12   Link #120
Kaoru Chujo
Yuuki Aoi
 
 
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This show is becoming something special. In ep3, Mei just gets more real and raw. And Yamato does, too, despite Sakurai's perfect voice. And even Aiko.

Mei's mother is played by Kobayashi Yuu.

And isn't it great to have Suneohair back doing an anime theme?
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