|
Now in Japan
|
|
Thursday, 02 September 2004 00:00 |
 Another entry from the "shows I wanted to hate" category, DearS managed to make me smile & therefore gets a tentative thumbs-up. Don't be expecting anything too original, though...
1 - I Want to See You
Takeya Ikuhara is your typical anime high-school boy, running a nice
little sideline in supply his friends with porn from the videostore he
works at. He's about to get a new transfer student in his class - a
DearS, one of a group of aliens that had crash-landed on Earth a year
earlier and are being integrated into Japanese society, so there's a
certain amount of excitement at the prospect. On his way home, though,
Takeya meets an unusual DearS - one that promises to be his slave for
eternity - not what humans see as normal behaviour for a DearS, and
unlike the rest of her race, she doesn't appear to know much about
everyday life on Earth. She does have a name, though - Ren (for short),
and she's about to make Takeya's life a lot more complex...
2 - I Wonder if it's Small
It's getting harder & harder for Takeya to hide Ren from Neneko,
who's getting more than a little suspicious. Embarrassing &
compromising situations soon follow - although Nenko's more accepting
of the idea of Ren staying around than you might think, even going so
far as to help out with teaching her Japanese. The mystery around Ren
deepens somewhat when Takeya finds she isn't on the list of DearS that
arrived on Earth...
Warning bells started ringing as soon as the OP played - "I'm your slave", huh? And Mitsuka-sensei puts the teacher from Mahoromatic
to shame, with her antics falling more into 'annoying' than 'ecchi
fun'. The other characters introduced here, though, are more fun to
watch, and there are a few hints at a darker side to Ren's story as
well, which gives me another reason to keep watching. The key here will
be how slowly or quickly they tease out that side of the story - while
the day-to-day life side of the story is fun, it's not enough on its
own to keep the interest. Spin out the other side of the story too
slowly & keeping the interest will be harder.
All this adds up to a show that seems to have potential, but hasn't
quite realised it yet. There's direct competition in the "cute alien
girls" category with Girls Bravo, so DearS will have to live up to its potential if I'm to keep watching for more than a few more episodes... |
Reviews Archive 
