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R1 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 29 July 2005 12:20 |
 Popotan continues, and while some progress is
made in searching for whoever it is they're searching for (I'm being as
vague as the show there!), not everything that happens to the girls is
good, particularly if you're Mai. In between the serious moments,
though, there's still some fun to be had here...
5 - Hot Springs
The house has appeared at a hot springs resort -
conveniently just on the site of a proposed themepark development that
the townsfolk don't want to go ahead. Ai's befriended a popotan
that
claims to know the whereabouts of the person they're looking for, but
first
it would quite like to be taken on a walk through the town's Spring
Festival. Many diversions follow, including the girls' entrance
into
the festival beauty contest and the obligatory visit to the hotsprings,
before finally the popotan leads them to the place they want to go -
but when they get there they find the developers have taken over.
Continued searching & perserverance pays off when they find another
field of popotan who are able to share a vision with Ai of the woman
they've been searching for - but disaster strikes when the house moves
on before Mai and Mea are able to get home, leaving them stranded...
6 - I'm Home
With
the house gone, Mai and Mea are left stranded in the town. While
the
house immediately reappears in the same town, five years have passed in
the real world - but before they can start looking for Mai and Mea,
there's the matter of themepark security guards to deal with.
After
all, the house has appeared in the middle of a themepark. In the
intevening five years, Mai has done her best to live a normal life -
she's made new friends and is in university now, so when Mii talks
about her continuing their journey in the house, Mai's not convinced
that it's what she really wants to do. Problem is, life away from
the house has its own unique problems that she has to deal with, and it
looks like her
destiny doesn't include a 'normal life'...
7 - Things That Cannot be Said
Another
town, another time, and again the house is back in a town they've been
in before - as Ai finds out when Daichi comes to visit. With 30 years
having passed, he's no longer the young boy he was last time they met,
he's now married to his childhood sweetheart Asuka and has a young
daughter. He's keen to catch up with Ai - and discover why she doesn't
seem to have aged - but someone seems determined to make sure that
doesn't happen. He's Keith, and he's come to help them with their
search - but is he on their side or somebody else's?. Daichi,
meanwhile, isn't about to let Keith come between him and Ai - but his
persistence leads to Keith revealing the darker side of his nature...
8 - Christmas
Sometimes
the house picks the strangest places to appear - this time, it's
'landed' in the middle of a Shinto shrine where Nono, the granddaughter
of the shrine's priest, is only too pleased to see something
Christmas-related. Her grandfather has always told her that there's no
place for Christmas in the life of a Shinto shrine maiden, but Nono's
always wanted to experience the Christmas spirit - but even now he's
not about to let her stray from the path he's chosen for her. After
she strikes up a friendship with Mii, though, she soon learns to stand
up for herself and what she wants to experience...
Shame on Ai, jumping into the sack with Keith on their first date. Now we know where Mii gets her morals from.
It's been said to me before that Popotan is really all about making
poor Mai's life as unbearable as possible. She's the only one of
the three who really seems to have a problem with the travelling that
she has to do, and it really begins to hit her here after her five
years in the 'real' world teach her that there's really no place for
her there (although next volume's episode 9 really puts the boot into the poor girl). For me, Mai's story is the real focus of the series.
Keith brings the reason for their travelling more to the fore, as he
obviously has some connection to what's happening. While he
initially presents himself as a friend (and takes advantage of Ai in
the process), it soon becomes clear that he has his own agenda in
controlling what the girls experience, which will play a part in
decisions they have to make later.
Episode 8 is the lightest episode in tone here, and provides a welcome
break from the more serious events in the earlier episodes.
Nothing hugely useful here, but it covers the fanservice bases & is
enjoyable enough.
For a mid-season batch of episodes, this wasn't at all bad - although
the real highlights of the series will come in the next volume, when
the s*!t well and truly hits the fan. It's been a while since I
last watched Popotan, and I have to say it's standing up to rewatching really well. Highly recommended.
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