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R1 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Wednesday, 10 October 2007 17:00 |
 Love triangles may hurt, but when Kashimashi dangles the prospect of a threesome in front of the audience, you know the fanboys are going to love the prospect. Don't be too hopeful of them following through on it, though. Instead, Hazumu continues to have problems deciding between Tomari and Yasuna - and the more time passes, the more trouble she has figuring out her own emotions...
6 - The Bride and the Groom
After walking in on Hazuki and Yasuna's first kiss, Tomari initially hides her reaction well - for long enough to get out of the classroom, anyway. Then reality sinks in, along with the realisation that, even after all the time she's spent with Hazumu over the years, she may have missed her chance. Come the next day, though, it's back to the brave face and a determined effort to make sure that life goes on - and she's going to make sure everyone knows there's a new happy couple in the school. She's also intent on making sure she gives enough space to the pair - but Hazumu soon begins to feel that she's losing a friend through what was really just a misunderstanding. Yasuna, meanwhile, is making the most of her time in the limelight...
7 - Heading to the Beach with Everyone
Summer vactions + anime = only one thing - a trip to the beach. This one's been arranged by Yasuna, although she probably didn't mean to attract quite the crowd she did. For Asuta, it's an exercise in self-torture, as he can't quite keep his eyes off Hazumu & her new bikini, ever-watchful for wardrobe malfunctions - but when Hazumu is accosted by a group of the local tough boys, he gets his chance to show of a little. Later, Tomari and Yasuna take a little walk together to try and talk over some of their issues, while Asuta decides it's maybe time he expressed his own feelings to Hazumu...
8 - Just Watching
One person's been sitting on the sidelines through all this - Ayuki, who even though she's had offers from some of the guys at the school has remained resolutely single. After seeing her turn down yet another potention suitor, Hazumu asks her why, but the only answer that Ayuki will give is that she has no intention of pairing off. Meanwhile, Tomari pays Yasuna a visit - officially to deliver prints of the photos she'd taken at the beach, but talk soon turns to Hazumu. A late-night test of courage sees Hazumu and Tomari paired together - and Sora creating all sorts of problems with his overly-realistic ghost impression...
9 - Will This Wish Come True?
When Hazumu was a little boy, he'd been hauled away from the local summer festival during a heavy downpour, without being able to get the candyfloss he'd wanted. Ever since then, (s)he hasn't been too keen on festivals - but it's that time of year again, and with everyone else getting their yukata out and going, it's not really something she can avoid. As ever, there's a certain amount of friction between Yasuna and Tomari, despite their best efforts to get along - but when they overhear Hazumu crying over having to choose between them, what looks like a lasting peace is agreed on...
Two real main aspects to this volume: Hazumu's growing confusion over who she wants to be with - and growing inability to make up her mind about pretty much anything as a result - and some fun fanservice, mostly revolving around Asuta's doomed efforts to make the triangle a quadrangle. Fanservice is always good, and Asuta being pushed to the fringes of the group (with Hazumu now a girl, he's suddenly become the only guy, trying to hang on to the edges of an all-girl gaggle of friends) makes for some good comedy as well (certainly more approriate comedy than the loli-fetish of Hazumu's father), but it's a light diversion to the main event.
That's Hazumu's growing crisis, of course, and it's not just an issue for her - both Tomari and Yasuna are getting ever more cuaght up in it, now that Tomari seems to have decided she wants to make her own pitch. Hazumu's problem is that she wants to please everyone, to be friends with everyone - but the situation she's gotten herself into unfortunately means that she's got to upset someone, and her head just can't cope with that possibility. That means it's almost up to Tomari and Yasuna to sort the matter out between themselves, and there are signs that they're starting to do that. You could read a little too much into their assertion that "you can have both" towards the end of the disc - I'm not expecting any polygamy here - but perhaps these kids are a little more mature than you'd give them credit for.
Off to one side, in more ways than one perhaps, is Ayuki - still making her cryptic comments about being on or off the stage, and still annoying me immensely. I see where she's coming from - she's the one who's in love with Hazumu but has realised there's no point in her making a pitch while the other two are on the scene - but the way she constantly harps on to Tomari about what she should or shouldn't do makes her probably my least favourite character of the series.
Kashimashi is still a series that's nearly impossible not to love. There are one or two annoyances (mainly Ayuki, as mentioned, and Hazumu's dithering is getting close to being an issue), but it's a really well-handled love story, and not the "OMG! Yuri!!1!" fanservice-fest that it so easily could have been. The way Hazumu's sex-change was handled perhaps makes the subject-matter a little more palatable to some (I still have a hard time remembering to use "her" instead of "him" when writing about Hazumu), but overall it's mature, sensible, and very enjoyable. Easily recommended.
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