Eat your heart out, Kaorin - this ain’t no dream!
Mako-chan, kissu wa dame da yo~~~!!
I didn’t really know what to make of this series - a bit like picking up a girl while suspecting that you might need to have a few drinks first. Anyway it seems to be somewhere in between In Your Face Yuri (e.g. full-on kiss on the smackers in the first episodes of Kannazuki or Simoun) or Akogare and Plausibly Deniable Yuri (e.g. MariMite).
While the anime’s story seems rather lame and much fun can be made of it (e.g. Mangaminx’s treatment of Ep 3 was a riot!), it does seem better than the manga’s, artwork-wise the converse seems to apply.
The fourth episode was more enjoyable than the first three - mainly because I like the Hikari-Amane-Yaya triangle better than the Nagisa-Shizuma-Tamao trioka. Amane and Hikari promise to be such a sickeningly good couple while Yaya exudes possibilities of much crazed lesbian angst and jealousy (cf. OP sequence). Nagisa is too clutzy, Shizuma combines the bad qualities of Sei Satou and Sachiko Ogasawara without many of their redeeming points and Tamao displays some symptoms of Tomoyo Syndrome.
The thought of Hikari-Amane and Nagisa-Shizuma going head to head on the Etoile battle seems promising to me though. Let’s have a good fight! Even if it’s unlikely to be mud-wrestling.
>>Shizuma combines the bad qualities of Sei Satou and Sachiko Ogasawara without many of their redeeming points
Wait, I thought those WERE their redeeming points!
I think a Hikari-Amane, Nagisa-Shizuma Etoile battle is certainly on the cards (especially judging from some of the manga events I’ve read), presumably there will be a third pairing from the remaining school too. It should be interesting to see, but I think it’s Yaya who has the most potential to spice up the story at this point in time. As you say, some crazed angst and jealousy from her could well be in the cards. Oh, and I’m glad you liked my episode three review!
Here I am once again in just about any blog which has a review on StoPani’s Ep 4, to run over the comment section with rabid declarations of AMANE X HIKARI FTW!!!! My simple way of saying “Dav was here”. *Ehem*
Anyway… Since nothing seems to be happening anymore with F/sn’s tsuderekko and her blonde knight (Booooo…), I have found myself a new obsession. Well… Not exactly new, coz I’ve been a hardcore Amane X Hikari fan from quite a long way back before they even planned an Anime for this, but I’m glad I get to see them animated. Makes actions more exciting. w00t.
Btw, I’m sure you can see a mirror image of Kannazuki’s triangle in the Amane X Hikari X Yaya trioka. You have Amane | Souma the prince, Hikari | Himeko the relatively shy and mousy girl, and of course who wouldn’t wanna leave out the saucy lesbian-desires-pumped Yaya | Chikane. Goodness, what Yaya was doing for Hikari exactly paralleled Chikane’s encouragement and angst of Himeko and Souma’s get-together, and if things do take a turn for the fugly in a strawberry way, we could get the chance to see Yaya go Chikane. My… What a wonderful treat that would be. That is, if she lets her emotions explode. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t mind if she takes after her Manga’s counterpart early. After all, she knows how to make a girl feel gooood… :p
PS. Kaorin can keep dreaming unless Sakaki ditches cats for her.
Honestly, I mainly watch the show now for more of Chikaru-chan.
Youteidori!
lolikitsune, you wouldn’t happen to be using this browser? ;P
Mangaminx, ah good to know since I don’t follow the manga. And keep ‘em reviews comin’!
Dav, I’m not so sure about the KannaMiko comparison as Hikari seems to love Amane rather more than Himeko with Souma. Poor Yaya is a huge disadvantage too with Hikari being even more clueless than Himeko about her “best friend’s” desire.
Fencedude, from the manga scan I saw on moetry, Chikaru doesn’t seem to be drawn as well in the anime though. T_T
Yeah, I guess that’s one of the more obvious differences between StoPani and KannaMiko. In StoPani, the prince is going to win this time. Haha. Hikari must be absolutely blind to all the signals Yaya is dishing out. She still sees Yaya’s actions as mere playfulness rather than a subtle confession. We’re not sure where the Anime’s plot would be heading, but I do hope Yaya does eventually confess her true feelings to Hikari instead of covering them up with only skillful fingerwork. It’d be more entertaining. ;p