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Written by maehara
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Monday, 10 September 2007 17:00 |
 The title of this series - Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ - conjures up a whole series of images that would have the average male anime fan beating down the door to see it. Shoujo-ai? Yes, please! Even the opening scenes hold out the promise of romantic action - but this series isn't quite what it seems to be. Copout or interesting take on a fan-favourite theme? Looks to be the latter...
1 - On the Day the Boy Transformed
Hazumu Osaragi has girl problems - he's fallen in love with his classmate Yasuna Kamiizumi, but not being the most manly of men his confession to her didn't go quite according to plan. "Shot down in flames" would be a good description, in fact. His problems are about to get a lot worse, too - while walking through the woods one day, minding his own business & trying to forget about Yasuna, a passing spaceship has the bad manners to crash on him, killing him instantly. Fortunately, they have the technology to resurrect him - but unfortunately, they've decided to bring him back as a girl. Which, strangely, could be just what Yasuna wanted...
2 - The Girl Realises that She is a Girl
In the week since his.. er, her regeneration, Hazumu's been run through a barrage of test, all confirming that what the aliens said was true - he's a fully-functioning, perfectly-formed female. That means there's a lot for Hazumu to get used to - wearing a skirt, for example, and behaving in a ladylike manner. While most of "his" female classmates have taken the change quite well, Tomari seems to be having more trouble dealing with it than Hazumu - could it be she's worried that she's lost her chance to be with him? And then there's the press, who just won't leave her alone...
3 - Hazumu's Heart, Yasuna's Heart
Hazumu has two new housemates - alien Sora and spacecraft-turned-girl Jun Puu, who have decided to carry out a little observation on humans. Cue added chaos around the Osaragi household, and at school as Sora tags along to class. All the better to make sure that Hazumu doesn't get too far away. Hazumu has other problems - she still hasn't really spoken to Yasuna since becoming a girl, but wants to try and get their friendship back on track. Yasuna, meanwhile, is having problems dealing with her own feelings about Hazumu...
4 - Girl Triangle
With Hazumu spending a lot of time with Yasuna, now that they're talking again, Tomari begins to feel the first pangs of jealousy - not that she'd admit that to herself, of course. Sora, meanwhile, takes up a position as assistant science teacher at the school, and soon finds himself the subject of Namiko-sensei's desperate attentions. And the less said about his teaching methods, the better. Later, Yasuna finally gets her feelings for Hazumu off her chest with a confession of love - leaving both Hazumu and Tomari wondering what they should do next...
5 - The Things Reflected in Yasuna's Eyes
Sora's been keeping an eye on Hazumu's ever more tangled lovelife, and is curious about what she's going to do next. Simple answer: Hazumu has no idea, so she turns to Asuta for help - although the way she broaches the subject only gets Asuta all hopeful that Hazumu's fallen for him. No such luck, I'm afraid. Tomari's frustration has at least worked wonders for her track performances, and she eventually works up the courage to take Yasuna on head-on. Yasuna, meanwhile, is having more problems with her inability to see men, and Hazumu's about to find out about her little issue...
There's a fairly obvious love triangle in play here, right before things start to get weird. Tomari loves Hazumu, in her own way (although being the tomboy type she doesn't really show it well), Hazumu loves Yasuna, and Yasuna.. maybe isn't quite sure. It's noticeable when she rejects Hazumu's confession of love that she's almost more upset about it than Hazumu is - but the key thing to note here is that the relationships were all in place while Hazumu was still a guy. Enter the aliens, who may as well have had "Flimsy Plot Device™" emblazoned down the side of their ship, all set to turn Hazumu into a girl and turn his relationships with Tomari and Yasuna on their heads. Suddenly Yasuna develops a renewed interest, while Tomari realises that her childhood friend and potential love-interest can't really be love-interest any longer - or can she?
The emphasis in episode 2 is on Tomari, and her having to come to terms with Hazumu's new status. It's all quite well done - almost believably, if the reasons for the change hadn't been so out there - with Tomari slowly beginning to realise that physical form aside, Hazumu is still Hazumu. You know from the opening scenes in episode 1 that she's eventually going to realise that her own feelings haven't changed, either, but it takes a little while for the situation to develop to the point where the three girls are ready to admit to what they're feeling.
After some fairly touching moments, though, the mood is spoiled slightly by the appearance of two aliens in Hazumu's bedroom, all set to join the regular cast and bring their own form of chaos to the show. Jun Puu is the humanoid form of the spacecraft that hit her, Sora is the ship's commander, who after causing irreversible change to Hazumu has decided to hang about and see how (s)he's coping with the change - but these two are very much played as over-the-top characters, even by the show's usual whacky standards. Let's call them an acquired taste.
Other characters include Namiko-sensei, Hazumu's teacher who's still single and nearly 30 - and that's really beginning to bother her, until she meets Sora and believes she's found the One For Her™. Asuta, Hazumu's best friend, is another one having a hard time coping - his best bud's just become a girl, and that's bound to cause problems. In Asuta's case, they're mostly hormonal.
The relationships begin to get serious in episode 4, as the reasons for Yasuna's initial rejection of Hazumu's confession are made clear and the two begin to grow closer as a result. That also triggers huge jealousy in Tomari and creates all sorts of problems between the three of them. At this stage of the series, you'd have to put Yasuna in the driving seat for when Hazumu finally makes a decision.
A lot of shows that feature girl-girl relationships play them purely for comedy. Kashimashi is unusual in that it plays it straight - the series is a comedy, yes, and there's a lot of fun to be had watching it, but when it comes to the core love triangle it's deadly serious and at times very emotional, as all three girls are struggling with what is essentially a tabboo that they all want to break. It's very touching in places, hugely funny in others, and never less than entertaining. Some people may see the lack of a dub off-putting (it's a niche title so it was felt a dub wouldn't be profitable), but please don't let that put you off - this is definitely a series that's worth watching. Highly recommended.
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