The episode concentrates on Tomari coming to terms with Hazumu’s transmorgification and like usagi-san, I’m well pleased with how the story was told. Tomari is hammered by shocks like seeing Hazumu in a girl’s school uniform, having her change in the girls’ locker room but, most of all, by Hazumu’s ready (and I’d say pragmatic) acceptance of himself as herself now. Like Chalcahuite, I agree that Hazumu has a strong predisposition as she was a very girly boy and all but her remaining male characteristics cause Tomari to launch into her Hazumu the Perfect Girl crusade. The bra-buying expedition proves to be the last straw however and she drifts homeward in a melancholy daze but is summoned to rescue Hazumu from the reporters. She then realizes that Girl Hazumu is still very much Hazumu Her Dear Friend and they share a tender moment together. Hazumu then meets her new roommates, the aliens. For a better summary and set of screenies, see Random Curiosity.
94 screencaps and manga spoilers ahoy!
As mentioned by Omni, this episode extracts scenes from Ch 2-4 of the manga to concentrate on Tomari’s development and I like the anime adaption better as it focuses on Tomari coming to terms with Hazumu’s change at her own pace and without the element of competition with Yasuna. The focus is on Tomari coming to accept Hazumu as a girl, especially when compared against the numerous flashbacks that give more depth to her childhood friendship with Hazumu - the idea of Tomari wanting to be Hazumu’s lover hasn’t entered the picture yet and thus the hug at the end was tender, sweet and not spoilt by Tomari’s eventual “what am i doing!?” embarrassment as seen in Ch 4 of the manga.
A minor change was when Tomari imagined Hazumu telling her that she is in love with a boy, Tomari just screamed in class but did not attack Asuta over that - which she did in the manga. Speaking of which I also liked how Asuta was shown trying to defend Hazumu against the reporters, although he failed the effort lowers the annoyance rating I had of him from the manga as he is trying to be a sincere friend to Hazumu though Hazumu’s boobs and cuteness are seriously messing his mind up. Also liked how Ayuki is clearly the insightful observer as well as supporting arbiter.
Other (more significant) changes from the manga include timing and Yasuna. On the former, in the manga, Hazumu returns home just six hours after the initial incident. In the anime, if I’m not wrong, she’s in hospital for tests and check-ups for about a week. This gives everyone more time to get used to the idea of him now being her - it also gives time for her mom to prepare all the dresses whereas in the manga it seemed that she had them all along. A small detail also got fixed as a result - when Hazumu changed for PE, she did have a bra. The bra-buying scene in the manga was due to the utter implausible situation of Hazumu’s mom having prepared dresses but no lingerie for her new daughter but this has been fixed in the anime and is now part of Tomari’s education program for Hazumu.
Manga Yasuna is extremely forward and aggressive in her quest for Hazumu - with a letter and confession by the end of Ch 2. Anime Yasuna, on the other hand, is much more reserved and is not actively pursuing Hazumu. She was also cut out of the bra-buying scene in which her behaviour verged on sexual harassment. My speculation is that Anime Yasuna is feeling guilty about having rejecting Hazumu as a boy and is uncertain about how Hazumu feels about her in the wake of rejection and transgenderization and is slightly distant as a result as we saw when she first entered the class, in the changing room, at the shoe lockers and in front of Hazumu’s house. While the opening scene of ep 1 shows that Yasuna definitely still has the hots for Girl Hazumu, I hope she will a little less aggressive compared to Manga Yasuna.
This episode, as well as the OP and ED, captures the light and sweet quality of the manga that I enjoyed most about the Kashimashi story. The annoyances (the ero-oyaji Dad, Namiko-sensei’s gratituous weirdness, Asuta as joke only) have so far been minimized. IMHO the source material actually seems quite weak especially with respect to the ending (none yet) - given the jokes about Tomari’s tomboyishness in this episode, I am wondering if we’ll see her turned into a boy by the end of the series. That would actually suck only less a little less than Hazumu being turned back into a boy. Female Tomari x Female Hazumu FTW!
Wow, that’s a lot of screencaps! >.
Yeah, just couldn’t resist - orz. Really enjoyed this episode and Tomari is so funny. :)
Just saw the episode, and I agree the changes to the side characters made from the manga are better for the anime, especially the bra scene. (Is Dad’s ero-oyaji routine really that funny to the Japanese? or is it just the presumption that all men are dirty perverts, even when it comes their daughters?) But, I think I prefer the more direct characterization of manga Yasuna better at this stage. (You say aggressive, I say direct. ;) She had her weak “I can’t see boys very well” defense of her sapphic tendencies going on by now, and without her pursuit of Hazumu, there might not have been any self-examination from Tomari, at least in the manga.
Also, it could just be my perception that toning down Yasuna’s character weakens the legitimacy of the yuri in what is already not a pure yuri story.
Hmm, without a true ending from the manga, how much do you wanna bet they leave it open ended, with Hazumu still a girl and still undecided between Tomari and Yasuna? The classic Harem Anime Endingâ„¢, guaranteed to please only the fanfic writers.
I don’t think Yasuna’s desire for Hazumu will be toned down (as seen in the kissing scene in ep 1) but Ep 2 suggests that she may be more considerate about Hazumu’s feelings, knowing (like Tomari) that she’s a delicate sensitive soul and all. :P
At this point, given my fear of Hazumu-back-to-male or Tomari-to-male, the class Harem Anime Ending ain’t sounding that bad. Fear the power of low expectations!! LOL