Crystal Tokyo Anime Blog

     Well, here are my two newest additions to my motivational posters for this week, please click on the image to view at full size.

     This new anime series is based on a series of novels written by Atsuko Asano, the novels also received a manga adaptation by Toshitsugu Īda and the series was published in Shonen Manga Magazine. The opening song is titled Aoi Kakera and sung by Chara, the opening tune has a upbeat feel to it but also has a low fidelity feel to the music, the opening features Ran and her female friends just hanging out around town and doing stuff like window shopping, and trying on clothes.

      This series begins with our main protagonist, Ran, a first year junior high school girl, having dreams/visions of a mysterious girl she doesn’t know. Then we see that Ran and her friend are both on the school’s track team and they get teased by some of their older teammates about being new students, and later we meet Ran’s childhood male friend/boyfriend who is waiting for her after school. While walking home from school with Rui, Ran again hears a female voice telling her that “it will begin soon”.

      Later that night we see a computer worker being haunted at work then being attacked by a ghostly person and a “ghost” dog. In the morning we get to see Ran’s family, her older brother Rin, her mother Reina a wannabe horror novelist, her father Ronpei, and their two cats Kisshou and Kenketsu. While sitting down for breakfast together her family sees the newscast about the computer worker demise.

     At the breakfast table Ran’s mother makes the comment that it sure is strange that so many strange incidents have been occurring in their small town, just then Ran hears the same voice from before startling her, she chalks it up to her imagination. On her way to meet Rui the mysterious voice tells Ran that it’s not her imagination. While out shopping with Ran, Rui figures out that something is bothering Ran and at first she won’t tell him what’s wrong, but a while later she admits to him that she is hearing a voice, and he tells her not to worry about it. He reminds her of the time when they were kids and voices lead her to finding the kittens that now live with her family, but just then she is mentally attacked by the voice, and it tells her all he is doing is sweet talking her up.

      Just as Ran begins to recover from the attach, Rui is attacked causing him pain in his head and neck, Ran begins to search the crowd for the attacker and focuses in on a dark haired girl. As the girl runs off, Ran and Rui begin to give chase but the girl gets away. Later we see the dark haired girl sitting alone at home having flashbacks from her childhood, it seems that she was made to feel weird because of her powers. It also seems that Ran has made a psychic connection to the dark haired girl’s dreams and her feelings of pain and loneliness.

      Just as Ran’s homeroom is about to begin their teacher introduces a new transfer to the class, Midori Naha, the very same girl that Ran and Rui chased the other day. After the introduction is finished Ran can hear Midori’s thoughts and Midori can also hear Ran’s thoughts and they seem to be able to communicate by telepathy. Midori causes Ran’s pencil case to fly open and fall on the floor and Rui helps her cover this up, but Midori says she’ll now attack Rui, and Ran rushes to his aid and her powers activate causing school items to attack Midori but she stops the attack, and Ran is confused about what is happening.

      Midori tells Ran that her thoughts caused the attack, and she tells Ran to show her more of her powers or else, and she begins to attack Rui again. Ran gets very angry and the sky above the school darkens and lightning begins to flash and as Ran is about to attack Midori, Rui intervenes stopping Ran from attacking Midori, Midori tries to goad Ran into showing off more of her powers but Ran slaps her in the face and tells her that if she has something to say, say it with her mouth. So the episode ends with a face off between Ran and Midori, well that’s all for now.

       Well, I feel that this is a pretty interesting first episode there were several things I liked about the first episode. The animation style pays great attention to background and everyday surroundings, while the animation style is nicely drawn and the the colors are vivid and crisp, the character designs are reminiscent of a style from a few years ago, even though this is a shonen series it has a somewhat dreamy quality found in typical shojo series.

Things I liked about this anime.

1. Ran’s family seems normal and nice, no real weirdo’s there.

2. Ran is cute, but not lolied up.

3. The other girls are normal looking for anime, some cute, some plain, and even some that are somewhat chunky.

4. Rui, Ran’s Bf, while having no special powers he isn’t a helpless, stupid, bumbling, clumsy oaf around girls.

Things that I found typical for anime of this type.

1. Ran running late to school, why are anime girls always running late to school, would they be late to their own funerals?

2. Why is the mysterious girl always dark haired, I know that this is anime but you have thousands of colors to choose from.

3. And why is the transfer student always strange in some way, don’t transfer students in Japan just end up being normal.

4. Midori friend or foe, but more than likely a tsundere girl, doesn’t almost every series have one of these girls lately.

      Overall I found this to be an interesting and engaging first episode, nice animation quality, good music that fits the story properly, interesting characters, and a fairly well written beginning storyline. I’ll cover a few more episode before I decide if I’ll do a episode by episode review or If I’ll just watch this series for enjoyment. 

      This episode of Moetan  begins with Ink, Sumi, and Nao getting ready for their senior exams, and Ink has a flashback to the magical kingdom, with Arcs getting in trouble with Alice again for making comments that her breast are too large. Sumi and Ka-kun seem to be in love and he vows to return with Sumi to be with her, and Ah-kun vows to return with Ink to help her along with her relationship with Nao.

       As a “joke” Alice sends them back to the human world but sends the two guys back as animals again to keep them out of trouble. At school Ink’s grades seems to be slipping due too her worrying about her relationship with Nao. Sumi sees that something is bothering Ink and she has a talk with her about the situation, and comes up with a solution to the situation, if Ink can’t transform anymore, so what, nothing a little cosplay can’t solve. So they go shopping for the materials to make Ink a Pastel Ink uniform, and Later the king asks Alice to return to the human world once again.

      Once Ink arrives at Nao’s house she has to use the front door (no magical powers anymore) and Mio isn’t fooled in the least bit by the costume, so over tea Ink confesses the magic girl story to Mio and how she used it to be near Nao. Well, Mio tells Ink that Nao is in the bath and Ink almost explodes from the thought of a wet Nao.

       Just then, Ah-kun interrupts Ink’s thoughts and tells her not to think of such things, but as Ah-kun looks at Mio he immediately thinks of bath scenes of almost every girl form this series. Just as Mio lays some justice on Ah-kun, her brother Nao finishes his bath and sees Ink inside the house, but soon calls her Pastel Ink, and Mio is surprised at his stupidity.

      Then we change scenes to Sumi’s house where Sumi seems worried about Ink, so Ka-kun suggests she cosplay into Tempura Sumi, and Ka-kun gets treated into a non magical strip tease until Sumi notices that he’s watching with intense concentration. Back in Nao’s room the English lesson seems to be going well, but finally Nao asks her why she’s teaching him English? After not answering for awhile Pastel Ink finally tells him that someone who wishes the best for him asked her to help him.

     Just as Mio is watching breaking news about Alice on TV, Sumi shows up at the door just like Ink did (it sure sucks to not have magic powers any more).  Mio lets her in and shows her to Nao’s room where she makes sure that proper teaching is going on. Later at home, Ink is in the bath when Ah-kun asks her what happens when the tests are over, and after Ink throws him out she vows to go to college with Nao. Well, that’s all for this episode.

      Well, the end of Moetan  quickly approaches, after the defeat of the main enemy in episode 10 all that’s left to do is wrap up some loose ends. As the series ends Ink, Sumi, and Nao are about to end their current phase of life and are about to embark on a new journey.

     Final exams and high school graduation approaches the crew, will Nao score high enough to get into college, will Ink’s and Nao’s relationship every progress to the point where her frustration is ended, and will Ah-kun and Ka-kun have to remain as animals in this world (well, I bet Sumi hopes not), these questions will most likely be answered (or I hope so).

     One of the funniest things about this episode was seeing Ink and Sumi having to deal with losing their magical powers, seeing Sumi and Ink having to walk and knock on a door instead of flying was just too cute, also watching them both freeze their asses off in the cold was pretty funny.

     In most magic girl shows the magical girl when transformed has some ability to confuse or fool the people around them into not seeing who they really are. This disguise ability only goes so far, most magic girls will try to never transform in front of other because this usually will ruin their cover. While the transformed magic girl is usually only slightly different from her normal self most people never figure out their real identity, but sometimes close female friends will correctly guess their true identities.

      This issue of having a secret identity for the magic girl can be a source of joy and frustration when their crushes is involved. While it’s great for them to get the attention from the guy while they are transformed it’s also a source of frustration for them. While the guys that they like might lavishes attention on their transformed selves they can’t see that the cute, sweet, and loving girl sitting next to them in class, or living next door to them is the same girl that they watch in wonder, after all it’s the inner qualities of the magic girl that’s makes them magical.