His and Her Circumstances Recommended

Director
Hideaki Anno
Production
GAINAX, J.C.Staff, TV Tokyo
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
25 episodes
Year
1998

His and Her Circumstances

By Eric Crabtree
9th May 04

Where to start? This anime is incredibly good. And coming from a guy who is straight, you know it has to be good. The story focuses around 2 high school students, Yukino and Arima.

What at first may strike you as a typical high school romance anime, further delving will unveil something a lot better. Incredibly funny, this series has a lot of high points and only a few low points.

While I can't pick out specific sentiment that makes it as good as it is, I can always remember the bad points. The last 3 episodes are a joke. I haven't been that disappointed in the end of an anime since I saw Evangelion: Death and Rebirth. A review episode, a side shoot episode involving Yukino's sister(s) and a supposed lesbian stalker ( I know but don't blame me, its actually there). And the last episode...I cant explain how much this angered me. After such a excellent series this was slap in the face. With dialogue nothing more than, "A conversation" or "A meeting"...all written in hiragana, katakana and kanji while showing black and white stills of these supposed actions. But if you can look past these "minor" problems then read on for the good points.

The music in this series was phenomenal. The opening and ending themes...are nothing short of godlike. I only wish I could download them so I could listen to them over and over again. So much comedy in this show its great. Not like the repetitive comedy of Love Hina, but some really good stuff. I don't want to ruin it, but trust me its some great stuff. Story-wise, you would be hard pressed to find an anime with a more well developed plot line. No plot holes, no unfinished threads. All very neat, tidy and understandable.

All in all, this series does have its faults. The last 3 episodes still make me angry when I think of them. But 95% of the series really is gold. I dont know what Gainax's deal is with making the last part of a series so bad, Evangelion included, but hopefully that won't keep you from seeing a really great anime.

8/10

-- Eric Crabtree 9th May 04

His and Her Circumstances Images