Asatte no Houkou (old generic discussion thread)

[nojay]

I expect the kiddie's fashion section in the opticians is a bit, umm, limited. She probably wants to not look too much like the old Shouko if possible, to hide her secret from Hino. She also might be conserving her money supply; she's not going to be earning a wage any time soon (OK, Karada might be able to do stuff like waitressing but that's not a given).

Rob's Anime Meganekko Gallery is not getting updated too often these days but when it does, I'm sure Shouko will be in there (in both forms).

For the uninitiated, megane-ko = "glasses girl".

[wingnut2292]

Wow. While I have no clue as to most of the dialoge, the episode was good. The pace picks up pace a bit more, but not too much. I's really starting to regret that this is inly 12 eps. while 24 would be too long, 18 would be enjoyable.

There was some age based humor. As Karada and Shouko were shoping for new clothes, Karada had to be the one to do all the buisness, talking to sales people, handleing money. Karada had to refer to Shouko several times for advice, or be corected for a mistake. One thing I thought was cute was when Karada was trying to get the clothes that she & Shouko bought, Karada couldn't read the kanji the form was printed on.

There was some humor with this episode, but the humor wan't contived and was very real. (unlike it could of been. Most anime with a role-change plot twist tend to come up with contrived plots to take advantage of the role exchange, nearly beaking either the 4th wall or the suspention of disbelief. Not so with Asatte no Houkou.)

There were a couble flashbacks, and Shouko-kodoma had a conversation with Hiro. I won't discuss what I thought was said in that converdation to prevent unpleasant spoilers.

I was surfing the web and found a post-change picture of Shouko and Karada. It's the same one the appears at the opening of the Lunar fansub. Currently, It's my desktop wallpaper.



Well, it looks like Internet Explorer works well with this web forum. nice to have an alternitive if Firefox has problems.

Now the waiting for Lunar do it's magic... come on, clock move faster!

[DoReMiFaSo]

Watched ep3.

Spoiler:

Why do they have to make Karada and Hiro not blood related? WHY?
Please don't make them a couple. PLEASE!!

Okay enough of that. I like the interactions between Karada and Shouko. I hope they'll show us more, and build up on their relationship.

I also feel sorry for Shouko. Hiro didn't explain much and just sent her a letter and dumped her. No wonder she's so bitter. Well, I understand that Hiro needed to take care of Karada, but he should have explained things better, so that Shouko won't misunderstand.

Oh, and Shouko was very cute in this episode, especially when she was posing in front of the mirror.

[Srin Tuar]

Originally Posted by eggplant

Watched episode 3, ah, the plot thickens.

Spoiler for Episode3:

I'm also looking forward to see if Hiro and Karada develop any romantic feelings for each other.

Spoiler for Episode3:

After learning that they are not blood related, I think its a given now that that angle will enter the story at some point. it would nicely explain karada's apparent love for hiro, but at the same time she hates being treated like a kid and wants him to treat her like an adult. (not to mention she dreams about him)

Shouko apparently was more than a girlfriend, she was his ex-lover. Her verbal jousting in chibi-form with Hiro was clearly her attempt to probe what his feelings for her are- why he abandoned her, what he thinks of her. She wouldnt waste time on that if she didnt want him back.

i think we have clearly entered love triangle territory, but at least in fairly unique fashion. I hope they don't spend too long on Hiro's disbelief.once we get past that, the interesting stuff can begin:

Will Karada attempt to use her new found body to seduce Hiro? Will shouko ever find out what is going on in Hiro's head? Will Shouko and Hiro make up and get back together? What are they going to do for living arrangements- will Karada return to live with Hiro?

I'm ready for ep 4 already

ps
I was happy to hear that Hiro did go to the police. I guess they just didnt show it in the first episode.

[physics223]

Originally Posted by Theowne

physics223, I agree that this is better then Kanon, but I think we don't need to keep saying it in every post

I realized I don't have much info about the manga for this series. Is it going to be completed anytime soon, or is a deviation from the plot expected to close the anime?

When did two posts become every post?

I don't know anything about this series's manga, but really ... I think that it will end well [not in a happy-ending sort of way, but in a really well-made ending sort of way].

I ask forgiveness for waxing lyrical about shows I'm addicted to; I guess it's a part of my personality and I just couldn't help it sometimes. Now let's get back to more discussion.

[JediNight]

Thoughts on Ep3:

Spoiler:

I too thought it was cute when Shouko tried pouring on the chibi cuteness in front of the mirror. From our perspective Hiro seems a bit dense to not realize whats going on so far, but realistically I guess we can't expect more. Since this is the "real world" in the anime -- how would you ever think something like that could happen?

Ideally you could keep mentioning stuff you've done in the past and it would add up after awhile that they couldn't have told someone else ALL that stuff ... especially in such a short period of time. And given the uncanny resemblances they retain of course. It could be problematic though if they keep pressing Hiro on the issue and he still won't believe them -- he could think they had something to do with Karada's disappearance and report them to the police, and that would be majorly bad.

I don't think that Karada is into the seduction angle with Hiro. She very much has affection for him as a brother, but I don't see it being more than that. Even if she did try ... somehow I don't think he would be interested in dating right now with his little sister missing...

My predictions:
Since Shouko just moved here and doesn't have a job yet (just out of college even), whatever money she has put away will quickly evaporate. This leaves Karada needing to get a job to pay for the rent ... and the obvious choice seems to be working at the cafe.

Even if they convince Hiro of what happened, I think Karada would have to continue living at the apartment. It would raise questions with the landlord and other tenants if they only ever saw a 10 year old at the apartment -- and Hiro's apartment is only really intended for 1 adult tenant I believe ... considering Karada's name is penned in on the nameplate. We might see Shouko then staying with Hiro at his apartment, but I think that would be too weird for both of them. So we are probably left with Karada and Shouko at her apartment.

I don't know which way to expect it to go currently though: Since it's only 12eps it's possible they could go to the very end without Hiro ever believing them. I find it a better possibility at this point of them convincing the cafe owner or Amino-kun at this point.

[physics223]

Think that Karada is only a 12-year old girl in an adult woman's body. Being sexually interested in her own brother at that age is highly improbable. As for Shouko ... well ...

[Srin Tuar]

Originally Posted by physics223

Think that Karada is only a 12-year old girl in an adult woman's body. Being sexually interested in her own brother at that age is highly improbable. As for Shouko ... well ...

There is this long running cliche from shows like DCSS and now Gift eternal rainbow where they go through all the trauma of having a younger sister not blood related have a thing for her "older brother". The difference in this show is the apparent age difference is much more pronounced, so it wasnt even imaginable. However, with the body switch they have introduced the possibilty, as now karada is an adult. There is the danger that they might do something rash and lose/ruin their brother/sister status.

With Shouko, she has the opposite problem. No matter how much she and hiro reconcile their differences emotionally and mentally, and even if they come to realize they still loved each other... with her trapped in a little kids body for the time being they wont be able to recover their old relationship physically. And she wont be able to tempt him with her "iroke", which is now gone.

OTOH, the show could focus on the simpler issues: being the wrong size body for one's mental state. Hiro being unable to believe the apparent age change and flipping out alot. The amino familiy's interference & antics. (i.e. all the less traumatic stuff)

[Wosho128]

WOW!

I just watched episode one, I am blown away!

The pacing, the story and characters are all great! And don't get me started on the production values!

Aw man, I think I'm about to have a fangasm!

One thing though, why does Hiro have so much hair that you can't see his face? I feel like he's lost under there.

Oh well, I'll keep watching, this is a new favorite.

[physics223]

As I see it, the producers try to portray this anime in a realistic light. With that as the case, it's quite hard to believe if they followed the imouto liking the older brother path. It's TOO cliched, and TOO absurd. Aside from that, it's TOO unrealistic: as far as I know, even siblings that were adopted and have a significant age gap don't really develop sexual interests for one another most of the time (there are always exceptions).

[Pellissier]

While I didn't like episode 1 much (maybe some unlikeable tracts/behavior on the characters), I liked much more episode 2.
Being it so full of pauses and long silences, I think it represents well the unreal kind of situation which it has been created.

As for the characters' development, I thought Shouko would have been a bit less calm in her reaction, than she was. At first I thought she couldn't have been fully realized what was happened, or that she could have had a memory loss. Instead she even sympathizes with Karada, which is the cause of her new status of child, forgetting the incomprehension of first episode (due to jealousy).
Karada's reaction is kind of normal imho, since it's still a 12 yo in a woman's body the matter we are discussing about.

I'm curious if Hiro ran away after the encounter, for actually not believing in what he saw, and thus go searching his imouto elsewhere, or for rejecting what had all the hints to represent the truth (although in a crazy way).
As for the possible development of Karada + Hiro , I admit I haven't thought at it until I read it here. But seriously I hope not. It would be a non-sense, or better, it would be off track in this situation. And while I sometimes can justify a relation between bro and sis, this wouldn't be the case.

Instead, I expect the anime to be more focused on the new life of this two (one phisically, one mentally) women, although being a quite original development, I can't imagine where the show will actually head in the next episodes.

[Quajafrie]

Seriously, it will be so bad if it turns out to be a "forbidden love" anime. But there's no way that can happen.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Quajafrie

Seriously, it will be so bad if it turns out to be a "forbidden love" anime. But there's no way that can happen.

well script writers love clichés so for all we know it can happen...but that would just be boring...i want something special to happen instead *thinks of ideas*

[DanielSong39]

Lots of familiar character designs here...

Yukito (AIR) lives with his little sister Akane (KGNE) in a small town, and are friends with Miss Ayano (Chokotto Sister) and her little brother. They run in to Shouko, an old flame of Yukito.

Later, Akane transforms into Card Captor Sakura/Kiri (Canvas 2) while Shouko becomes Choco (Chokotto Sister).

Still looking for the token blond foreigner.

[JediNight]

More on Ep3:

Spoiler:

Shouko is very rational so she seemed to adapt to the situation immediately in a "what can ya do *shrug*" sorta way. I also love the way she reacts when fitting Karada for a bra. It's apparently hinted at that Karada has a larger cup size than Shouko ^_^;;

Even Karada by the end of Ep3 seems to have adjusted fairly well judging by her attitude when folding the laundry, going to the supermarket apparently off-camera, and making dinner. Given another couple weeks out in public and I think she would be very comfortable and over her timid reactions we see so far.

Incoming pointless theorizing:
I don't know a lot about proving identities in Japan, but even if this change were permanent, Karada is in the perfect situation here for something like this to happen. Shouko just moved here ... from being in the US even, and she can provide Karada with all the paperwork and information she would need to basically assume her life. I don't know which photo IDs the Japanese have, but one could imagine she could claim she lost it and get a new one with the "updated" picture -- it's not like Shouko would be complaining her identity was taken ;p

Shouko's situation is bit more up in the air. Assuming Hiro is convinced of what happened, a child isn't really going to have any photo IDs and people wouldn't scrutinize the paperwork that much on enrolling them into school. It would probably be a good idea to move to another town though for enrolling Shouko in another school as "Karada" but they could make it work easily I bet.

Shouko is a bit more screwed though if they end up not convincing Hiro. She then doesn't have an easy way to assume a new identity. It might still be possible to enroll her in another school under some pretense the paperwork was lost or some other story ... that way she at least starts creating a "legitimate" paper trail. But I don't know where that would leave her when looking for a job after school heh.

Shouko and Karada: The Really Odd Couple =D

[physics223]

The wish stone seems a half-arsed reason to have a 'forbidden love' anime between Karada and Hiro. Koi Kaze, arguably the best anime on the topic of incest, really did its research - subliminal things that weren't really mentioned like the fact that the two main characters only met after a long time of NOT growing up together grounded it in the basis of scientific fact.

This series aims for realism - the years spent by Karada growing up alongside Hiro would have desensitized him from being sexually interested in her, and likewise with Karada. I don't think forbidden love is an option if they started the anime to be as serious as that - that would be a mockery to the intelligence of the viewers, a succumbing to the ever-stacking pile of anime cliches, and most probably a total degeneration and degradation of the anime that seems to be the best of this season to a pile of crap.

[JediNight]

Enough with the forbidden love harping physics ;p We don't even know if they are going to go down that route at all at this point. Nothing to this point suggests that Hiro had a romantic interest in Karada before the change, and so far he doesn't even know/believe that the adult Karada is really her.

Likewise, Karada has not shown any interest in Hiro beyond the familial love for a bigger brother -- especially when he is the ONLY family she has.

[physics223]

That's it. We don't know, and we most likely don't want them to. God, that will so suck. Since it was iterated by Quajafrie, I just wanted to reply on what I thought about ... well, forbidden love.

[landau]

The chance for the story of this show to turn into "forbidden love" is slim if the anime follows closely to the plot of manga:

Spoiler for Don't open this tag if you don't want to be spoiled:

Are you sure to open it?

Spoiler:

As in the manga, it is revealed that there is a possibility that Kanada is Hiro's daughter. In the manga, Kanada is the daughter of Hiro's mother's sister with whom Hiro had an one-night stand. But I think this setting is overthrown in the anime as incest is a sensitive topic in a publicly brocasting show.

[physics223]

That certainly STRUCK me. Hard. :|