Asatte no Houkou (old generic discussion thread)

[DoReMiFaSo]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

well imo that ending is too dreamy and i dnt think that everything will work out quite so perfectly...but i do hope that shouko will have a happy end...i think her past is a lot more complex than wht its been made out to be so far...

Hmm...perhaps something happened to Shouko between the time she got dumped by Hiro and when she met him again. And she blamed it on Hiro for it.

[Guido]

I'm just pleasant to witness by myself how versosimile the animation staff portrayed Karada and Shouko's circumstances as realistically to even had the two casts not believing what happened to them either.

Hiro's reaction upon encountering the now adult Karada and child Shouko was as well natural and understandable. If such fantastic phenomenon could be possible in the real life, I and anybody else would not believe it with our eyes.

The premise resembles to that of the films- Wish Upon a Star and Big.

In the former, we have two quarreling sisters who unknowingly one to each other they made a wish upon sighting a shooting star. By the next morning, without explanation and not them noticing, they found switched into the the other's body.

In the latter, a pre-teen boy ridiculed for not being grown-up enough makes a wish to a fortune-telling machine to be an adult. Overnight, he wokes up as an adult, young man but retaining his childhood personality.

Interesting to note is that the transformation between Karada and Houkou follows closely to that of the sisters in the first film, because no supernatural forces manifest physically when the wish is granted. It just simply happens, though in the former's case they witnessed what went on but did not grasped how occured even after realizing their new situation.

However, Karada's and Shoukou's disbelief and initial denial relates on the same manner how the adult-transformed kid found himself on the same boat after finding out for himself the change in the second film.

Another similarity to Wish Upon a Star is that both girls made a wish reflecting a desire to change the role of their current situation.

Spoiler:

Although Shouko was explicit that she made no wish to return in being a child, at least not directly, I suggest that she was thinking about Hiro at the time she made it in synch to Karada's wish on becoming adult for her brother's sake too.

The nature of the wish revolve around Hiro- for Karada to be adult so that she can grant her brother his freedom and for Shouko to receive the same attention and care from Hiro as he does to Karada.
It's a "what if" situation brought to reality by magic forces.

Asatte no Houkou would strongly hold ties with those two aforementioned films.

Spoiler:

- The two girls will wish themselves for normality. However, they must first work to achieve "the Happy Ending" of their desire between them and Hiro. Only when that happy ending is reached another stone would be found by chance.
Reflecting a similar outcome to the sisters once settled down their differences and learnt from each other, another shooting star passed by and wish themselves back to their respective identities.

- Just like the boy's family in Big, Hiro suffers the anxiety and frustration of loss due to the 'seemingly' dissapearance of Karada, escalating with each episode.

- Natural course of events to follow would be that since Karada's now an adult, she would have to find a job. Chances are high, which I predict, that she'll be working at the same restaurant like Touko does.

I do not think another adult character would be introduced, since the first episode introduced the relevant players whether be minor or major. I say so because given their current situation, both Karada and Shouko would be growing a strong tie between themselves, therefore, making the story focus how they perceive the world as a transformed adult and regressed child around them.

[wingnut2292]

Has anyone found the episode 3 sub? Ep 1 & 2 were released a couple days after they aired, but episode 3 seems to be taking a long while.

That's the problem with a good story, you want more as soon as possible.

[JediNight]

The show airs on Fridays US-time AFAIK (I see the raws appear late Fri/Sat), but no I don't think Lunar or Froth-bite have released Ep3 yet. The widescreen airing of the show on BS-i is 2 weeks after the regular airing as well, so I would imagine you have both Ep3 and Ep1(16:9) to look forward to in the next week.

[JediNight]

Ep3 is released now -- someone finally discuss with me ^_^;;

[Nvis]

Originally Posted by JediNight

Ep3 is released now -- someone finally discuss with me ^_^;;

Hmm? I don't see it in Baka-Updates.

[darkchibi07]

Man, this is getting better and better, and episode 3 is no slouch!

And people thought it's going to be strictly a slice-of-life series a.k.a. Aria!

[Matrim]

These flashbacks of Shouko and Hiro in America were quite moving and powerful, I have to say. Nice episode, the series is keeping its momentum well.

[Nemo_N]

Episode 3 was so good at so many levels. Is good to see they throwed in some fun (yet not over the top) moments involving the age switch: Karada wearing Shouko's clothes (barely ), Karada's struggle to understand the adult world, Shouko's cute lapse, etc. Too many to list!

This makes me wonder: why I haven't seen fanboys reveling about Asatte no Houko? (outside this forum, of course)

[Kaoru Chujo]

The 4:3 version of Asatte no Houkou airs late Thursday night/early Friday morning at 1:55 am on TBS (that's in Tokyo; other times/days in other regions of Japan).

The wide-screen 16:9 version airs Thursday nights at 12:30 am on BS-i. This Thursday night's episodes will be episode 4 on TBS and episode 2 on BS-i.

There are times and days for broadcasts of almost all current first-run anime on this fall anime calendar.

Japan time is 13 hours ahead of New York time (and will be 14 hours ahead on Sunday, when North America drops back to standard time). Japan is 9 hours ahead of UTC (GMT).

I agree with Matrim about how strong those flashbacks of their life in America were. My confidence in the staff making this anime has grown each week.

[JediNight]

Yeah there were a lot of funny moments. Shouko trying to be cute, the bra sizing scene, Shouko trying to reach the end of the bath tub lol...

Also the scene where Shouko kinda resigns with herself that its not bad if she goes with the flow of "being a kid" when she wears the bows in her hair etc.

I wonder what the cup-size conversion is for Japan though? We assume by the scene that Karada is a G70 ... what is that in US sizes?

[kvnphm1]

I think i just found this season hidden gem =p

[ImClueless]

Damn, the drama levels in this show are great. Episode three was very nice balancing the slice of life stuff with the heart string tugging stuff. I am glad since I personally thought that episode 2 was really slow and kinda dull at times.

Also, where the hell was Hiro and Shouko staying in the US? That bedroom was HUGE. Not the typical flat you would find college students in.

[JediNight]

Boston I think it was?

[ImClueless]

Well it said Boston on a street sign so we don't know which city? Anyway I wasn't refering to their location in the US, I was just commenting on the fact that their living conditions seemed pretty grandiose.

[JediNight]

Well in a city like Boston they probably have lots of very old buildings, so it might not be too hard to afford a flat in some old building.

[Cal-Reflector]

Originally Posted by JediNight

Well in a city like Boston they probably have lots of very old buildings, so it might not be too hard to afford a flat in some old building.

I'm sure someone on the forum familiar with that area will come and give us a definite clarification, but for the moment I too thought it odd that they seemed to live in such a well-off... oh but wait, there's a perfectly logical explanation.

It must've been a hotel room for a "special occassion."

Later footage of their flat while Hiro is on the phone, which they live in, looks much more conventional. So there, and here I was thinking the producers missed on a small detail like that.

[Matrim]

This makes me wonder: why I haven't seen fanboys reveling about Asatte no Houko? (outside this forum, of course)

Because it requires a refined taste to appreciate it fully. Or maybe because its fans are like me - too lazy to ramble about it in detail in their blogs or on other forums or wherever. But actually I have seen people raving about it outside of this forum, maybe one just has took a bit harder since this is no Suzummiya Haruhi or Kanon.

BTW, is it only me or both Hiro and Shouko looked a lot better in the flashbacks than in the present time? Also, I just love the way the usually calm and reserved Shouko can suddenly snap, although it took her way too much time to figure out how to hit hiro with her small arms.

[Cal-Reflector]

Originally Posted by Matrim

Because it requires a refined taste to appreciate it fully.

Ah, but it only takes very little to perk initial interest. Those of us with blogs, all we have to do is post a few more screenshots (make em' fairly large), suggestive or otherwise, on our blogs and voila, I'm sure the download count for this show will start to tick up.

On a side note, its come to my attention that on one popular CHinese torrent tracker, Sumomomo seems to have a wider following than Asatte or Code Geass.

As for Hiro and Shouko looking much better in the past; most likely a reflection of how happy they were together?

Edit 2: A new thought: I don't think its been brought up before, but is Karada going to at some point realize/find out just what sort of relationship Shouko and Hiro had? It's natural for her to be unsuspecting at this point, but even as a child, eventually it should become apparen that they were more than mere acquaintances. It'll be quite the turning point, methinks, if and when she should find out what had come to pass between them in the past, and to see what sort of action she might taken then.

[PastPrime]

When I first read about this show I decided to give it a pass because I was expecting some kind of ecchi comedy. But then I read that it was a serious show so I decided to check it out. So far it seems to be one of this seasons best shows.