It’s also somewhat shallow to say, but I find the character designs also detract from my ability to take Eden of the East seriously.

When I saw the EotE screens, I just kept thinking: Honey and Clover. This has got to be one of the least brilliant pre-production decisions since casting Wong Chau-Sang as the Sword Saint in Storm Riders.

The kicker is that I’ve never even watched Honey and Clover aside from reading bits and pieces over at Garten‘s. I do know that Yasu is the criminal though.

And I make no apologies for my shallowness. Unlike some people who try to rationalize but forgot they’ve already revealed the real reason. Eden of the East is hardly the first series where the art style completely undermined my desire to watch it. Other past misses include:

AIR: Eyes in anime are huge but the gianormous eyes 0_0 of KyoAni-KEY just make me want to hau-hau behind a curtain.

Kanon (2002): Oh the chins. Apparently it could have been worse.

Manabi Straight: It sounds like so much fun but I’m just defeated by the whole fat loli thing.

I’m sure I’m missing out a tonne. Which would probably explain some gaps in my MAL. But it’s kinda hard to remember series which I didn’t watch at all.

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She may or may not be intended as a tsundere character, especially with the complete lack of a male love interest for most of the characters… I like her because her interactions with Subaru have lots of potential for comedy

And yuri! The way I see it, her tsundere is directed mostly at Subaru. Which is why I suppose fan works, such as by Ashita wa Docchida, tend to portray her love interest as being… Subaru.

The above official (not fan work) artwork is for the Nanoha StrikerS Sound Stage X, set three years after the events of StrikerS and is focused on Subaru and Teana. The above scene is from Track 5 where Subaru is overjoyed to see her old Basic Military Training and Riot Force Six room mate; Teana, though pleased as well, is megas-embarrassed by Subaru’s exuberance. But given she’s matured and is no longer twin-tailed, her tsun has mellowed a lot.

A lot of her tsun towards Subaru that we saw earlier in StrikerS comes from her irritation at Subaru’s hyper cheerfulness and happy go lucky attitude towards most things. But it’s those aspects of Subaru that she likes too – especially when they envelope her like a warm, comfy but rather tacky-looking blanket. Erica summed it up so well when she reviewed the first volume of the StrikerS manga:

But most of our time is spent with Subaru and Teana… Subaru drives Teana crazy but she can’t get her out of her mind, which sets up Teana as the ever-popular passive-aggressive tsundere.

Which brings me to another example of fandom attributing yuri between two characters. I’m pretty confident that a lot of Konata x Kagamin fandom comes from Kagami’s tsundere towards Konata.

And the staff really knew how to fan the flames of this fan fire too. Like the Kagamin chara CD that just filled with tsundere for Konata, especially the track 100% Nai Nai Nai. Well, I suppose those MEGAMI posters helped too. And that DS game cover. And that PS2 game cover.

Tsundere is often taken to be a sign of female romantic interest in the male harem lead. LET’S BE FRIENDLY and feel the yuri love in tsundere too!

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For me, this OVA confirms what an excellent choice Katou Emiri was for the role of Kagamin. Her lovely chemistry with Hirano Aya’s Konata doesn’t count against her either. Ahaha~♥

Visually, my favourite sequence was the transformations of Kagami, in rapid succession, into KagaMeido, KagaMiko, KagaRin and KagaMiku. More comprehensive series of caps over at Kurogane’s post. Her twintails just make her perfect for the latter two.

But, as a whole, I enjoyed the above sequence most. Misao says: ‘Love!’ as she embraces Kagami and I’ve always enjoyed the two contrasts of, firstly, how she admires Kagami but Kagami doesn’t seem to care very much and, secondly, how Misao resents how Kagami values Konata’s friendship. Kagami’s transition from her initially curt responses of ‘Shaddup!’ and ‘Don’t touch me!’ to her more extended outburst of ‘I’m not here to take part in the martial arts battle! I don’t want to be your bride!’ was just LOL as was her denial that she was being tsundere.

Unfortunately there’s not been much to go on for Konata x Kagami shippers like myself. MEGAMI posters, in particular, can be such a tease – followed by the Hiyori Berserk Otaku Imagination disclaimer. While the higher screen cap above highlights how Kagami allows Konata to invade her personal space in a way she doesn’t allow others (there’s even a pair of unanimated 4koma where Misao gets slapped for pinching Kagami’s waist but when Konata does the same thing, Kagami just blushes and grumbles); the physical contact even persuaded Kagami to relent in her reluctance to visiting the pet shop. The lower screencap above was also a nice example of how they support each other and how openly expressive they are when communicating with each other.

Having said all that, I can’t really see any attraction that would take this beyond ‘best of friends’ even with my yuri googles on. But then again, that’s what fan art and fan fiction are for, as the case of Hiyori in the anime and 4koma show acute authorial awareness of. :3

Just to mention, in passing, that I’m a much bigger fan of the cochocochoco interpretation (see here for a fine example of showing the tension in the, nonetheless very warm, attraction) than the rather more lugubrious Kagamin Bocchi universe where the driver is loneliness which I found to be too great of a departure from the happy-go-lucky atmosphere that defines the type of life being sliced in Lucky Star.

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