Anime: Cinderella Boy

Cinderella Boy owes a lot of its style, character depictions and choppy animation to late 80s- early 90s titles such as City Hunter, Lupin and Ranma 1/2 (whose name is referenced in this series as the lead character also turns into a girl). Cinderella Boy is a great little title to catch when you are just looking for a fun casual show, where you do not need to get too involved in the story or character. It entertains but just like fairy floss, it does not leave a lasting impression.

The animation of this title, as mentioned above, is very choppy. One might suggest that this was done to capture the essence of the earlier titles Cinderella Boy is influenced by; or even that the budget for the series was not grand. However this does not excuse an anime of 2003 from looking so rough. The character design and artwork is pleasant enough and effective though. The characters and background gel well together and the colour scheme used is very cute, reminiscent of titles such as Fancy Lala or Wedding Peach - which are shows aimed at a younger audience. This expands Cinderella Boy's appeal considerably, and as violence is portrayed with hardly any consequence (blood is rarely shown), children would not be disturbed by the title.

The seiyuus do an adequate job portraying their characters. Rella, being a cute rich woman is portrayed with enough comedy and panache to be likable. Ranma is also well depicted, as is the secondary cast. However there is hardly any real gritty drama in the storyline, no one gives a stand out performance - as there is no need for one. The background tunes, intro and outtro are also adequate but fail to really stand out.

The basis for a story is that the two protagonists (Ranma and Rella) get into a car accident, and a mad scientist saves them but they have to share the same body. At the stroke of midnight each day, Ranma becomes Rella or Rella becomes Ranma - depending on who started the previous day. They spend most of the series tracking down the scientist while handling cases (as they own a detective agency). One thing I loved was how many of these cases come together well, through half of it being handled by Rella and the other half by Ranma. The storyline is very easy to follow and enjoyable all around; which probably has to do with the cast being so likable.

For the purposes of the title, I would say the cast is really effective as they perform their roles well. The characters interact well, are entertaining and offer a great distraction for a lazy Sunday afternoon. This also makes the title highly enjoyable, as it is short, never drags on and does not get repetitive. I recommend it if you are after something entertaining, mild and easy to get into and follow.

A nice blend between Lupin, Bond and Ranma ½

Animation

The animation of Cinderella Boy is not really anything special if you consider it was made in 2003. What it does deliver, however, is a nostalgic 80s or 90s feel, which isn't nessecerily a bad thing.

The animation is quite similar to some of the Lupin TV Specials for example Lupin: Tokyo Crisis but with a little more superior drawings and colouring.

I actually happen to like the drawings because they made them look more like real people than many of todays animations that make the characters look like cardboard boxes. And sometimes has good colouring thats featuring more than 2 shades of shadowing and also has nice highlights aswell. This isn't always the case... Some scenes look really sloppy and I start wondering what the Art Director was thinking during the quality control.

Backgrounds are quite detalied but sometimes they feel abit empty due to the lack of people which would have made it feel more lively. It does have scenes with lively surroundings but way to rarely. But to sum it all up, the animation is "Avarage" and features some quality work at times.

Sound

I'm going to be perfectly honest about this one, being a muscian myself.

The Opening Theme "Cinderella Boy" by the band "DOMIN88" starts of quite catchy with some jazzy uplifting elements but is later ruined by some quite bad vocals, and its a pitty. I think that it would do better as an instrumental track with a lead solo instrument instead.

Ending theme "Garden of Eden" by "TAKAKO" is alot better. The song starts of quite unappealing with some bad english but when it starts getting good, it features nice, emotional guitar playing and a good female vocalist. A good ballad that could have been better with abit lower reverb and if they decided to drop that vinyl scraping sound.

None of these two songs are that memorable but they kind of fit the series. The opening might be a little too uplifting as the story proceeds and turns a little more dark but it does however fit the first couple of episodes perfectly.

The music during the show is pretty good and manages to set the mood in most of the scenes. The highlight here is a rocking melody with some nice distortion guitar that plays sometimes during some of the actions scenes if I remember correctly.

Story

OK! Now we are going to dig into the main course, the storyline.

This is fairly interesting and I would even go as far as to say that the idea is really original.

It's about two poeple sharing the same body. In this case, just to make it a little more interesting, a man and a woman. Every day at the stroke of midnight they take turns and transform into one another!

Let's hold for a second. Yes, this sound similar to something... Ranma ½? Well, it is, in a sense... But a little research on wikipedia showed that, and I quote "the original Cinderella Boy manga predates Ranma ½ by several years". Meaning Cinderella Boy might have been the inspiration for Ranma and not the other way around.

That out of the way... let's continue.

So what they are trying to do, is to find a way to get back to normal again and at the same time, run a private detective bureau, which is what they were doing in the first place. Along the way, what they ultimately find out is that the whole idea of merging people toghether is "the future of mankind"...

I found the plot to be interesting and it feels really refreshing to the way too common "depressed boy meets sudden girlfriend with super powers high school drama" thing. What they could have done however, they could have made it longer. The ending felt a bit rushed, at least to me.

It does bear resemblance to other Monkey Punch series Lupin The 3rd so there is no mistake who made this one aswell. It's something like a mix between Lupin, Ranma and sometimes James Bond. So if you like either of these movies/series, you should give this one a try.

Character(s)

Okay... there are quite alot of people for just 13 episodes so I'm just going to bring up the ones that I think is the most story related.

Ranma Hinamatsuri: Is a private detective and the co-owner of the R&R Agency.

He is a really humane character that takes on all kinds of cases from lost pets to buisness conspiracies.

He also like to collect car models and is often seen driving a London Taxi. Despite living in a futuristic world he can't use computers since he doesn't like the idea of being controlled by machines. Ranma also have this thing called acrophobia, meaning he is scared of heights.

Ranma is vocied by: Takehito Koyasu and I think he does a really good job with this. He has a bit darker voice and sounds really natural when doing the voice acting. It's nice to have this kind of voice now and then since I'm guite fed up with anime characters sounding like they are 10 years old.

Cindy "Rella" Shirayuki: Is Ranmas partner and the co-owner of R&R Agency.

Rella is also a private detective but unlike Ranma, she only takes on cases that she finds exciting, which is why she decided to become a detective in the first place... Because detective work is exciting! She is also good with computers and often uses a special search option called "Tinker Bell" to find various kind of information. With her around there is probably never a dull moment for Ranma since she is a two hand-full of work just to keep her entertained.

Rella is voiced by: Yumi Touma. And just like Takehito Koyasu, she does an good job. She has that little more mature yet playfull and sometimes sexy voice that a woman should have. Again, it's really nice to hear a woman that doesn't sound like she is 10.

Dorothy: Is Rellas elderly maid who is also a master engineer. Most of the time she is just being obnoxious, especially to Ranma since she doesn't like the idea of Rella working together with Ranma.

Being an engineer, she supprots Rella with all sorts of gadgets and equiment to ensure her safety.
Sometimes she acutally reminds me of "Q" from James Bond since she makes all those disgusied gadgets, like a bracelet that shoots out a bullet with the flick of the wrist.

Voice actor: Nobuko Hori. Sounds just like what you want a elderly woman to sound. Not that memorable however.

Son Tai Jin: Is a major syndicate boss that pulls most of the strings in the underworld in Kirin Town.
He owns serveral buinesses and often cross paths with Ranma and Rella for various, often conicidental reasons.

Voice: Hirotaka Shimasawa.

Aramis de Panini: Is a very comical character that has fallen head over heels for Rella due to a sudden romantic kiss from her in the second episode of the series.
He is the son a a wealthy pharmaceutical manufacturer and is often seen driving around in his very bizzare limousine.

Aramis often uses the catchphrase: "My Angeru!!" whenever he meets Rella which is really hillarious.

He is voiced by: Wataru Takagi. And believe me, you won't be able to get his voice out of your head since you are going to hear "My Angeru!!" playing like a broken record in your mind after the first time you hear it.

Alice: Is a quite mysterious woman that often seen spying on either Ranma or Rella for some reason or another. She either helps Ranma out of a situation or betrays him and sets him up and then vanish into thin air.

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue.

Overall, Cinderella Boy has really good characters that often leaves you either laughing or smiling. They felt humane which is the best part about them.

There might have been a little too many characters in this show, since you only get to actually know a few of them and the series is, as I said before, only 13 episodes long.

Value

If you are a fan of Monkey Punch work or Lupin, maybe James Bond you will most likely enjoy this series. It's quite nostalgic and is a little more mature anime that even the older generation can watch and still find entertaining so this series is released in either Europe or America on DVD I will definitly purchase this, no question about that.

Enjoyment

Awesome! This show is sadly only 13 episodes and it will always keep you entertained so the 13 episodes feels like 6 in the end. There is so much going on that you just want to keep watching and see what happens next.

So if you have nothing better to do and want to watch a nostalgic Lupin/Bond-like flick. I recommend this one.

Ranma meets Lupin.

Monkey Punch's latest work is a parody of his most known work, Lupin and other animes like Ranma (from which the idea with the changing bodys comes) and Cowboy Bebop.

The series starts off with private detectives Ranma and Rella sneaking into a room in a casino in order to investigate a loan. After a car-chase they end up falling off a cliff. That's where the story beginns. A scientist makes an experiment on them, which changes their whole life. They now share one body, each for 24 hours.

The animation isn't really up to par. It looks a lot like Lupin, especially when things and people are moving and shooting the animation goes down. The backgrounds though are most of the time detailed and fitting to the situation. It seems the creators wanted to make this anime look like a typical gangster show from the early years, though the show itself plays in the future. Still, for an anime from 2003 looking just a bit better than an anime from 1970-1980 is not the best qualification.

The sound is nice and fitting. Many jazz and blues tunes varying through the show and most of the time fitting to the situation. The opening Cinderella Boy was nice and had a catchy tune while the ending Out of Eden was slow paced and somehow melancholic. Not outstanding, but worth listening to it.

The seiyuus were all better known and did most of the time a good job. Koyasu Takehito better known as Zechs from Gundam Wing, Mwu La Fraga from Gundam Seed and many more, was Ranma's voice. Sometimes his voice was perfect for the circumstandes, but there were also situations when he was just annoying. Rella's voice was given her by Touma Yumi, Urd from Oh! My Goddess, Najika from Najica and some more. Her voiceacting was as expected really good, it was always fitting and gave the chara a lot more deep. Inoue Kikuko known as Mizuho from Onegai Teacher, Belldandy from Oh! My Goddess and many more was the seiyuu of Alice, her acting was also really good.

The charas itself were most of the time ok. Ranma was sometimes a bit out of the place because of his attitude. There were a lot of allusions on a romance between Ranma and Rella, too bad there was no room for that because of the story.
On a sidenote: Alamis was a really funny side-chara, especially his "my angeruuuuuuu" was unforgettable

The idea for the story was interesting. Two people sharing one body while beeing private detectives and coming often in trouble because of the body changes. Too bad the author couldn't decide on the direction in which the story should go, while the first episode was really good with introducing the charas and let them become one. The following episodes were just filler, where they solved cases while switching bodies. While the sixth episode picked up the plot a bit and the seventh episode showed how Ranma and Rella met for the first time all the other episodes didn't add a lot to the whole. Until in the 11th episode the story picked up again, to show some unexpected things and end in an unsatisfying way. The other thing which was wrong with the plot was the way of the story-telling. Sometimes it was dead-serious just to change to idiotic comedy with the next scene. Even in the end they couldn't refrain from making it a farce.

With 13 episodes this anime is bearable, I liked especially the serious moments but disliked a lot of the sudden comedy insertions. The seventh episode was a highlight despide beeing just a filler, the story was touching and the end was really good. Too bad they couldn't keep this up for the last episodes. Also, the rewatch value of CiBo is not very high, this could be because of the end, which was on the one side open and a farce, but on the other side sad. Or, because of the not-fitting comedy sequences. For the first time it's kinda interesting and capturing, but you don't want to see the comedy a second time.

Well, if you like Monkey Punch's works (Lupin), or cross-dress, body transformation animes like Ranma and I My Me! you will enjoy this one. Others can take a look on it, with 13 episodes it's short and watchable.