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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Wednesday, 16 February 2005 08:05 |
 Hmm. A harem anime, where all the different 'girls' are really different personalities in the same person. Now there's a novel idea, this time brought to you by Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~. I have to admit up front that harem shows are beginning to wear a bit thin with me - there have just been too many of them lately - so Mahoraba's 'unique selling point' had better work well...
1 - Welcome to Narutakisou
Narutakisou - an apartment complex in the middle of Tokyo - somehow manages to have the look and feel of a country retreat, complete with falling sakura. Ryusshi Shiratori, a country guy who's in Tokyo to go to college, is their latest resident, and Kozue Aoba (an extremely cute high-school student & Ryuushi's second cousin) is his new landlord. So far, what's not to like? It's when the other residents start to take an interest in him that things start getting a bit strange - and that's before he discovers Kozue's darker side...
2 - Ooya-san's Secret
Seems Kozue has a split personality - and the 'other' side of it is about as far from the peaceful, quiet, adorable Kozue we've seen so far as you could likely get. Try Zena, Warrior Princess, and you're closer - welcome to the darkside, who answers to the name of Saki and isn't to be taken lightly. The rest of the residents don't seem to be too surprised at what's happened, though, and it's left for Momono to explain what's happened. Now all Ryuushi has to do is learn to live with Saki's antics - he's already beginning to think moving to another apartment could be a good idea, when he discovers there's more than two sides to Kozue...
I can't help but wonder how many more personalities Kozue's hiding in there, and have to admit that it certainly give Mahoraba a different feel from most harem shows I've seem recently. On the downside, Ryuushi seems to be the tyical anime loser (although admittedly there's hasn't been much chance for his personality to develop much yet), and his past connection with Kozue has some shades of Ai Yori Aoshi - as do the rest of the Narutakisou residents. Fortunately, originality isn't the only thing that gives a show its identity.
There's not much to tell from these two episodes other than the revelation of Kozue's 'secret'. There'll be more personalities, I'm sure, before the show settles into a comedy routine based on them - the real test of the show will be how well that works when it gets going. I'm curious enough for the time being to keep going - hopefully, curiosity doesn't kill the cat...!
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