Asatte no Houkou

Asatte no Houkou - Initial Impressions

Nick — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 01:02:26 -0400

After watching the first five episodes of Asatte no Houkou, I found that this 12-episode series had really caught my attention at the end of the first episode and held it up through the fifth episode. Like most anime slice-of-life series, this series has a "hook" to make the series more interesting than simply watching the lives of a few people. Asatte no Houkou's hook happens at the end of the end of the first episode; an episode that's admittedly dull the first time you watch it.

If you read Anime News Network's entry of Asatte no Houkou, you'll know what that hook is; a young child (just about to go into middle school after the summer break) and an adult woman have their wishes granted and swap ages. Of course, this isn't exactly what they wanted. The adult woman, Shouko, has just come home from overseas, troubled by something, and wishes to start her life over. The young child, Karada, dislikes being treated as a child, and wants to grow up quicker so she wouldn't be a burden to her older brother, who takes care of her.

One part that attracts me to this series is simply how seriously the creators approached the story and characters. It is a shoujo drama, and I find that the characters react quite believably to their predicaments. Another is certain aspects of the animation; I really noticed how light and shadow interact with the characters. Also, I really enjoyed the piano-heavy music; the eye-catch at the middle of each series is punctuated by a piano playing an arpeggio that strongly reminded me of Someday's Dreamers's eye-catch ditty. Actually, all of the piano work from Asatte no Houkou really remind me of the piano music in Someday's Dreamers.

Well, enough of that, here are some of the main characters that you'll be introduced to in this 12-episode series:

Nogami Shouko - The adult who is returning from studying overseas. She is quite aloof and saddened and wished to start her life over in Kanou Town.

Iokawa Karada - The young girl who wishes to grow up quickly. She will be a middle school student after the summer break. She is very good at cooking and cleaning the house. She seems to be quite small for her age, and she doesn't like having her youth pointed out to her. She wishes to grow up so she wouldn't be a burden on her older brother.

Iokawa Hiro - Karada's older brother who is taking care of her. He works at a pharmacy, likes seasoned omelettes, and smokes when stressed. He was also studying overseas in America when he met Shouko. They had become lovers, but he had to return to Japan four years ago when his parents died. Shouko seems to resent the relationship he has with his younger sister.

Amino and Toukou - Friends of the Iokawas. I assume that they are siblings; Amino is a classmate and probably the best friend of Karada, and Toukou works at a coffee shop that Hiro often visits.

Asatte no Houkou - Toukou

Nick — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:58:06 -0400

Asatte no Houkou - Amino

Nick — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:56:59 -0400

Asatte no Houkou - Iokawa Hiro

Nick — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:51:20 -0400

Asatte no Houkou - Nogami Shouko

Nick — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:47:46 -0400

Asatte no Houkou - Iokawa Karada

Nick — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 00:41:25 -0400

Kirin, slice of life, canibalistic pigs, oh my!

Nick — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:19:28 -0400

There's quite a bit that I've been meaning to write about, but I just haven't had the energy to just write even when I had the time. For example, I've been meaning to do an analysis on Anime News Networks interview with Fuyumi Ono for some time now. I've also finished the official English translation of Ono's The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadows several days back, and was itching to write about that one too; I'll probably end up combining my thoughts in those in one big post later. Also, I got up to episode 5 of Asatte no Houkou, and want to note some stuff down here before continuing, but for some reason, I can't just sit down and write it. Rather frustrating, as I'm now writing this at work, when I should be coding! Well, it is the end of the day, and I'm about to head out to get some dinner before coming back to work on this current project...

So, instead of watching more of Asatte no Houkou, I've started on a series that I've watched a while ago and been enjoyed that Rosepetals is currently blogging about currently: Infinite Ryvius. I'm up to episode 5 of that, but most of my discussion of the series will probably on her site.

Oh, thanks to Don for pointing me to something I can spring on my guests this Saturday when I hold another "Anime Evening" at my house. Hopefully, the last part of the title of this post would give a clue as to what that is...

Asatte no Houkou recommendation

Nick — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:25:16 -0500

A trusted friend had just recommended Asatte no Houkou to me. The summary does sound interesting, and he and I seem to have similar tastes when it comes to slice-of-life anime. Into the "to watch" list it goes!