[Kaoru Chujo]

Oh, man, it's exciting to return to this thread after a long absence and see the rip-roaring discussion continuing, with many new names involved. I won't really join the discussion, because I think the million words I wrote when the show was airing two years ago exhausted my desire to talk about it, rather than just rewatch episodes now and then. It's still my #1 anime all-time.

I'm here to try to tempt people who like this show into trying an episode or two of the current show The Daughter of Twenty-Faces (aka, Nijuumensou no Musume; and Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief). It's not yuri, although there are some moments in ep10 that could be misinterpreted that way. But it's a show with outstanding voice-acting, great relationships and character development, and an unusual story. I can't figure out how to describe the story without spoiling some powerful stuff in episode one, but you can find blog entries via Anime Nano, if you want.

The reason it reminds me of Simoun is that it's a show I love and admire for its subtlety and freshness but that is getting very little attention either in Japan or abroad. It reminds me of when we decided in frustration that Simoun had to be subbed and started doing it ourselves. At least Live-eviL and sudo are already subbing Daughter of Twenty-Faces.

I'm hoping that since I love it and loved Simoun, some others who like Simoun may find it interesting. It stars Hirano Aya, who is at her absolute best in it, far better than as Haruhi or Konata. More like her work as Layla in NANA. Intelligence, taste, and emotion. And the old pros that surround her are good, too: Uchida Yuya, Touma Yumi, Arai Satomi, Satou Rina and others.

By the way, I will say a couple of things about the discussion. Although there are many things in Bloodseeker's interesting posts that I don't feel the same way about, it's refreshing to find someone else who likes Furoe, who got so little love when the show was on. Her VA, Aizawa Michiru, who was apparently only 13 when she did Furoe, has now shown up in the new OVA series Amuri in Star Ocean, which features 3DCG character design and a bizarre "story" involving lolis in space. And I don't mean spaceships, I mean hard vacuum. Makino Yui and Saitou Momoko are the other two stars.