hontou ni sou omou?

Hair antenna! I had been following this series via Random Curiosity, Sea Slugs and Asakomi. Finally decided to watch it after reading about ep 13. Was not sure I was going to blog it as Mentar’s very-insightful-as-usual posts made one feel a tad redundant but Honoka-chan is so lovely so here I am.

My initial reluctance was due to my not being a sports person or a fan of sports-based anime. They often end up revolving around the cliché of the hero finally unlocking her or his natural talent through finally being able to focus his or her mind plus lots of constipated grunting. Also my first big crush was a track girl in myhigh school class and since hardly anyone ever completely forgets the experience of their first crush, I was just a bit worried that the show would hit a little too close to home for comfort.

Well, my fears were all unfounded. The series is really a romance show with an intermittent sports theme. It is simply a breadth of fresh air, after all those harem series, to see an anime where the guy actually has to actively do something in order to win the heart of the girl he loves.

The first thing I found unusual was that the main character and narrator of the story is Yamato rather than the title character of Suzuka. I can’t say that these first few episodes endeared me to either of them very much but then I knew that their characters and the web of relationships would be well-developed later on, unlike some *coughShinn Asukacough* others. Without further ado, let’s have the Sakurai Honoka screencap fest!

Miko outfit +5 to Kawaiiness.

Honoka-chan is another one of those characters that break the stereotype of shy quiet girl who secretly pins after the male protagonist but never does anything. She is certainly proactive - chatting up Yamato in class, reminding him of their first encounter (helps that they were old enough to actually remember it clearly - unlike, say, Love Hina) and then going over to his room to visit and cook for him when he’s sick. Unfortunately he is just too focused on Suzuka and there are too many other distractions like Yasunobu and Yuuka. I thought her voice was really endearing - a bit rougher than I expected for such a girly girl but another pleasant surprise. Her stutter, which was also cute, showed how nervous she really was but that she managed to steel herself to talk to Yamato. Her basis of attraction to him is a bit of a cliché - an idealized and extrapolated image of him from a single childhood experience but attraction is a bit of a mysterious thing anyway. Also due to her observation, she’s already begun to realize that Suzuka is probably her greatest rival for Yamato’s love.