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R1 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 24 June 2005 11:42 |
 This volume of Popotan is deceiving, and means
a lot more if you're watching through the series again than it does
first time around. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a series
of one-off episodes with a guest-of-the-week - pay attention, and
you'll be rewarded with one of the best H-game coversions there have
been...
1 - The Secret House
A strange house has appeared in the fields
outside town - complete with Christmas tree, in the middle of summer -
and according to rhe rumour, it's haunted. When young Daichi visits
the house, camera in hand, he finds the inhabitants are definitely
human - but probably not what you would call normal. Sisters Ai, Mai
and Mii, along with their maid Mea turn out to be quite friendly, and
when Daichi explains why he's after photos of some ghosts (to help
friend & sweetheart Asuka prove to her classmates that ghosts
exist), they're only too happy to put on a show to help him out.
Problem is, Daichi's new-found friendship with the girls is destined
to be short-lived...
2 - Friends
The house has reappeared on
the edge of a cliff, and in a new town, where Mai and Mii have
transferred in to the local schools while Ai continue her search for
talkative popotan. At Mai's school, classmate Konami has been trying
to strike up a friendship with Mai, but Mai doesn't appear to be
interested in getting too close to anyone - with their house moving of
its own accord every so often, Mai's learnt from experience that it's a
lot easier to never make friends than deal with the pain of leaving
them time after time. Somehow, Konami manages to get through Mai's
hard exterior - which only leads to pain for both of them when it comes
time for the house to move again...
3 - Magic
Another town,
another chat with the popotan, and apparently Ai's still not getting
the answers she's looking for. Meanwhile, Mii's discovered the joys of
mahou shoujo and has decided she wants to be just like Magical Lilo, a
magical girl she's been watching on TV - Ai even goes as far as getting
a cosplay outfit made for her, giving Mii - the Magical Girl of Love
and Peace! - the perfect opportunity to disappear out and save the
world. Or at least small crying boys. While Ai & Mai worry where
she's got to, Mii meets a man whose young daughter Miyuki is in
hospital and in need of cheering up. Miyuki is also a big Lilo-chan
fan, making Mii the perfect antidote for her woes...
4 - Alone
A
young girl appears in the shop, convinced it's a toy store and
determined to pester Mea to repairs her stuffed toy, and it seems
nothing Mea says to her is going to convince her otherwise - it's only
when Ai and the others return home that she takes fright and leaves,
leaving her toy behind her. Something persuades the normally-unhelpful
Mea to repair the girl's toy and return it to her - she claimed to live
in a nearby village, but according to Ai, the only village nearby was
abandoned, with no-one living there - so just who was the girl who
visited the store? One by one the girls discover that that forests
around the house aren't entirely uninhabited, while the girl eventually
comes back to the house, looking for Mea...
While these may all seem to be standalone episodes, what you're
really getting is an introductory episode for each of the main
characters - and that includes Konami, Daichi and Miyuki, in a
way. While it's not clear now, each of the 'guest' characters
will have a role to play in the lives of the girls and how the story
progresses, so it really it worthwhile paying attention. For a
little bit of forshadowing, look at how the characters are grouped in
the OP sequence, as well - particularly who Mea's with. But
enough of spoilers. :)
There's a little of the series' ongoing plot given out here, but it's
not much to go on - the house moves from time to time, the girls are
destined to move with it, and they're looking for something - with
tanpopo (dandelions) can lead them to. And there was me thinking
it was just royalty that talked to plants. Past that, you're on
your own.
Taken as a batch of one-offs, these episodes work quite well, with a
good mix of comedy and touching moments. There's also some added
bath scenes for your fanservice enjoyment (something to keep the fans
of the original h-game happy, I'd bet), although they do feel a little
out of place.
The main problem is if you don't know how the series progresses,
there's not a lot here to really drah you in other than cute characters
and gratuitous nudity. That works for me, so I stuck with the
series first time through and realised there's a hell of a lot more to
it than what these episodes let on. That means I have to
recommend you stick with it as well - you'll be well rewarded.
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