There does seem to be a method to the madness of Mayu's older brother.

But I think there's nothing but madness to the madness of Shungo's older sister.

I know it's a mistake in a series like this to look too deeply for things like "consistent character motivation" and "rational story", but it's hard to avoid it.

Some stuff does seem to make at least a bit of sense. For instance, the way the girls in Shungo's class keep molesting him.

It's because Shungo is a stud. He's the best looking guy in the class, a major-league hard body, and were it not for the fact that he's a thoroughly gentle and nice guy, he'd be far and away the baddest bad-ass in the school. His physical abilities are way, way beyond normal, and there's no secret about it. (Things like him jumping out of a 4th floor window and reaching the ground safely.)

And though it's evident he's hetero, he doesn't seem to get interested in any of the girls. They want to know what it takes to get a rise out of him, and I mean in the nether regions.

This being fundamentally a farce, naturally they take it way beyond anything reasonable. But it still makes a modicum of sense.

By the same token, the basic deal made in gym class between the girls and guys -- that the girls would keep Shungo busy so that he couldn't prevent the guys from going after Mayu -- also makes sense.

As to Mayu's brother Mikihiko? His sister is clearly deeply messed up, and he wants her cured. Somehow he thinks that Shungo holds the key to doing that, and maybe having Reika around will help. (Yeah, I know a bit about what's coming but I'm trying to forget all that and base what I'm writing on what I ought to know based only on the first two episodes.)

But what in hell is with Ryoko, Shungo's sister? Has Mikihiko entranced her somehow? Is it just that she gets a rush out of seeing Shungo risk death? I'm leaning towards the "sociopath" explanation, myself.

Or to put it a different way, she's the way she is because the writers need her to be in order to set up the situations they want. She's a deus ex machina.

UPDATE: Reika is a standard character. Absolutely cliche.

She's got the same voice as Perrine in Strike Witches, and that seiyuu is really good at doing rich bitches. Reika uses watakushi and ends most of her sentences in desu wa or just wa, both of which are affectations I really despise.

Ye gods. Thus is "comedy" made. (It says here.)

UPDATE: End of ep 3. The one thing they're really doing right is that Shungo continues to be admirable and likeable. He really is a nice guy.

UPDATE: Supposedly this is "uncensored", being a DVD rip. But it's been relatively tame, all things considered. This is as raunchy as it's gotten in the first three eps:

And they're still covering up.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 06:14 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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