Anime: Asatte no Houkou.

Note, I deleted my previous review and rewrote it, it was far too short to be considered a decent review, anyway...

Asatte no Houkou

It is such a simple anime, about two girls both wanting better times. Who doesn't want that?

Karada wanting to be an adult, no longer a burden on her brother. Shouko, wanting to be a child again, no longer the worries and burdens that come with adulthood. To relive those times of her childhood when she was regarded as a prodigy, a genius. But at the same time, while they each get their wish granted in a way, it goes to show, 'Be careful of what you wish for.'

Though it is a simple story told in a carefree way, one could easily get bored with it. But for some reason, that just doesn't happen.

Animation - Excellent
The animation is astounding; backgrounds look great although not overly detailed. Which is nice that it isn't distracting from what is going on with the anime itself. The characters look great, I love the way they look, the way they move. There is such a livelyness about them. Their hair moves when they move, everything has such realism to it.

But the realism isn't overpowering. It doesn't make you pause and criticize the animation for being TOO life like. It is enough to make you notice that this animation is better than most, especially during 2006, sure there were some top notch titles like Haruhi and NHK that had stellar animation, but considering those are only 3 out of a year that produced hundreds...

Sound - Beautiful OP/ED Combo
While the sound isn't distracting, it isn't anything to write home about. The seiyuu's certainly seem like they liked their roles. Which that is always refreshing to see, er hear. Just the simplicity of liking your role instead of just reading lines on a paper. It makes the atmosphere and the likability so much better. In general, the bgm just fits, there is nothing that stands out in memory, nothing that stands out as I watch it now. Maybe that is a bad thing, nothing noteworthy. But it is definately a good thing, no funky ackward music that distracts you from what is going on. Nothing that causes you to pause and think, 'WTF!?'

I've always been a fan of the OP/ED, even when I was watching it as it aired, even now on my 'umteenth' rewatch. Everything about the show is slow, which I find a refreshing change of pace. There are no flashy action sequences, no over the top fights, no uber cool transformation scenes where you can peer at their nude bodies sans detail.

Story - The Meat
Ok, here is the meat of the review, as I stated in the opening, it is about two girls getting their wishes granted. Shouko, being a child genius, misses her childhood. One where she was admired for her intellect. However, because of that intellect she didn't have many friends. Which makes you wonder why someone would want to go back to a rather lonely childhood. Then there is Karada, her brother was previously in love with Shouko, things were going great. They were living together in America while going to school, they had planned on getting married and living happily ever after. However things don't always go the way they are planned.

He ends up having to come back to Japan to take care of his little sister, (). Anyway, Shouko starts to hate him for leaving her, however she continues on. Until she meets him again.

That is where the story starts. Karada and Shouko each have a wish to be a different age, the wish is granted and each realize how great it is, although terrifying. However, they realize that things aren't what they seem. Contrary to the old saying, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Karada begins to realize how hard adult life can be, just how terrifying the world is. She begins to want her childhood back, where her only worries were school work and whether Amino-kun likes her or not. In parallel, Shouko realizes that being a child again isn't what she wanted, but she, unlike Karada, can reinvent herself. She is a child, she will age back into an adult. If she was unhappy with the way things were, she can change them now. But through a girl, I believe to be Amino's cousin, which she is only in the anime, not the manga, she gets put out in the world, she gets to enjoy her childhood, run around with other children. It is really a great story, and it doesn't seem that the 12 episodes were enough to tell it, good thing there is a manga right?

Characters - Kind of included it in animation
Ok, the characters, aside from the story, are the rest of the meat. It really requires you to care about the characters. What happens to them, will everything be alright in the end? If you don't like the characters, well forget it. I'd recommend that you skip the Slice of Life genre all together.

Anyway, the characters are:

Iokawa Karada:
Karada is a cheerful young girl who is about to enter her first year of junior high school. Her parents died when she was two years old, and has since lived together with her older brother, Hiro. She looks younger than she really is and wishes to grow up faster, due to hating being treated like a child. She has also learned how to cook and do house chores herself, due to her not wanting to worry Hiro. Her friend and classmate, Amino-kun, seems to have feelings for her. She finds out that Hiro wasn't her older brother before her parents died.

Iokawa Hiro:
Hiro is a young man who was Shōko's boyfriend when he was studying abroad. They went to the same university in Boston. One day he had to leave in order to attend to his parents' funeral, but never came back as he had to stay in Japan to take care of his sister, Karada. Several months later he sent a letter to Shōko that said he would never come back, without explaining the reason. It is later revealed that he isn't Karada's older brother, and he met her for the first time at her parents' funeral. He thought that he would return to America right after the funeral, but he couldn't leave her alone. He works in a pharmacy.

Nogami Shouko:
Shouko is a young woman who has just recently returned from overseas in the United States. She first meets Karada at the shrine that contained a fated wishing stone. She used to be Hiro's girlfriend, whom she met while in America and it seems that they were very close. Hiro told her that he would return right after the funeral, but she waited for months and then she received a letter saying he would not be coming back. Also, she did not know Hiro had a younger sister.

Amino Tetsumasa:
Karada's friend. After Karada disappears (according to Hiro) he spends all of his time looking for her. Even though he has several encounters with her and even spends the whole day with adult Karada, he doesn't recognize her.

Amino Touko:
Tetsumasa's older sister and owner of a coffee shop that Hiro usually hangs out in.

As I said with the story, it requires you to like the characters. There are many ups and downs in the story, some that will put a huge smile on your face, some that will make you want to cry. But you'll be enjoying yourself the entire time!

Value/Enjoyment - I love this show
Well, I've tried to be as unbiased as I can, although it is rather hard to do that with a show you absolutely love. I love the music, the way it is told, the characters. I love how they move, how they look. I understand that SoL isn't for everyone, it wasn't for me when I first got into anime, I loved the long Shounen shows with tons of action, but I guess my tastes have matured. I love the drama and romance, the unfolding, grow with you characters of SoL... Which is something this anime contains.

Note: I confused some bits with the manga, forgive me

Ver. 1.4

Asatte no Houkou... What's there to say about this series? I personally found it to be a slow-paced and boring series. Of course, in order to find it in such a way I would have to be comparing it to series in other genre of which AnH is not a member (i.e. action). It was, in it's own way, exciting.

If you should choose to read any parts of this review at all, even in the slightest, I would appreciate criticism after.

Animation ~ 9

To be honest, I'm getting tired of giving high grades, animation wise, to the anime that I review, but so far, all of them have deserved the grades they got. Asatte no Houkou, as already stated, is not an exception. While there are no mind-bendingly brilliant segments of animation here, the character drawings, backgrouns, and other such things are done with high detail throughout.

Take a gander at the image that AniDB has hosted for this series. Unlike most of the other images that other series have on the site as their poster image, that one for AnH is exactly how everything is drawn frame by frame. Imagine that for the whole series, and you get why I decided to give this category a 9.

Sound ~ 10

In my opinion, this category would have to draw out the series' most points from its critics. The introductory theme song, Hikari no Kisetsu, was at first strange, but I listened to it stand-alone (in anime intro form, of course) and it ended up sticking really well with the series. The same would have to apply to [the] Sweet Home Song, AnH’s ending theme sung by Yuumao. Neither of the two were were like other in/out songs (least of all the new ones for Death Note): they weren't very fast-paced or catchy, but rather set the mood for the rest of the series.

The voice acting was superb. Though there were only three main characters and a plethora of supporting ones, they all did their jobs surprisingly well, albeit that the voices seemed to be stereotypical choices for the characters they were given to.

The background music of AnH would have to be another plus for the series. It was slow for the most part, almost introducing enough drama to double that of the actual plot.

Story ~ 9

Ten points given for execution, one point docked for a lack of anything new and thoroughly original (for me, at least).

This story was a variant of the one I saw in "Freaky Friday," a movie with Lindsay Lohan. The differences in the motives for switching bodies and that no fortune cookies had to be broken.

~ First Episode Summary:
Don't bother reading if you've seen it already

Asatte no Houkou starts off with two girls, Iokawa Karada and Nogami Shouko, doing nothing but, well, meeting. Soon after, Shouko runs into Karada's much older brother, Hiro. In the first episode, the viewers are introduced to almost all of the characters of AnH, and I'll get into who those are later, but for now we move on. From the various introductions here, it's a BEACH PARTY!!!

Some stuff goes on here, including a small fight. After that, and some time later, Karada and Shouko pray at the city's Wishing Stone, which does just what the name implies: grant wishes. The stones are a special jade color and shine brilliantly in the light... that is, until the end of the episode. The stone apparently grants a wish and causes Karada's body to age into an adult's, while Shouko's body degresses into that of an anime elementary student's.

~ Summary's end.

At this point, the stone's special color is gone, and the series goes on, allowing only for plot progression and character development.

"The series goes on," and I quote myself, into the girls' actions after they change ages and the subsequent bonds created between their new selves and the people they meet. Mathematically speaking, around a fifth of the series after the first episode was flashbacks.

Character ~ 9

Once again, ten points for superbly done development but two points taken away for a lack of real originality. The greater aspects of AnH for this category would be that not all of the characters were introduced at once. I find this to be an important quality for any anime to have, especially one of this length, because it allows for more development between the already set characters before more are introduced.

Iokawa Hiro - the source of AnH's storyline. He's Karada's older sister and met Shouko prior to the series' beginning.

Iokawa Karada - she first appeared as a lolicon girl in AnH, and was highly reminiscent of Chiyo-chan. She's Hiro's younger sister.

Nogami Shouko - a stunning woman of Japanese descent, hailing from America. She visits "a town" and just happens to run into Karada and Hiro during her stay.

Amino "Tetsu" - full name Tetsumasa, he's one of Karada's classmates. He's tall and dresses like somewhat of a wildman, and his spontaninity adds to that appearance.

Amino Touko - Tetsu's older sister, and a worker at the coffee shop that Hiro and Tetsu seem to get most of their deep thinking done at.

Shionzaki Kotomi - my favorite character, and a totally original character in the anime, much like how episode 9 worked in Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. Her wardrobe is far from conservative, and she's introduced later in the series than the others.

Value / Enjoyment ~ 7/7 Respectively

With my somewhat high grades thus far for this review, some might wonder why these two, which can be called the most important of any AniDB review, are not as high. It would have to be because, as good as Asatte no Houkou was, there are better series out there. That isn't to say that AnH gets a "meh" grade from me, just that there are other series which specialized in what they wanted to bring out.

AnH was short, bittersweet, and very well made. If you're going to watch Asatte no Houkou, I don't recommend watching such a series as, say, Bokura ga Ita, because watching any drama series after that forces you to lower your grades for the post-BgI series.