Midori No Hibi Recommended

Director
Tsuneo Kobayashi
Production
Studio Pierrot
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
13
Year
2004

Midori No Hibi

By otaku_kei
9th Feb 05

After my exposure to the magical Fruits Basket, I have to admit that my anime horizons have started to broaden. To that end I have encountered yet another zany rom-com, where the course of true love cannot run smooth due to the simple fact that the boy may just be falling in love with his own right hand?!? As with many titles within this genre, it is not just the situation that throws all the hurdles into the path of romance, but the ensemble cast that all provide their own complications as well as a lot of the comedy, and frustration for the couple of mismatched lovers.

‘Mad Dog’ Seiji Sawamura is the much-feared delinquent with the ‘Devil’s Right Hand’. Constantly getting into fights and taking on entire gangs single-handedly, Sawamura secretly hides a desire to live only a normal high school life and to get a girlfriend. But after 20 straight rejections in a row Sawamura proclaims that he will never find love and will grow old only ever finding enjoyment in his own right hand. Apparently he got that prediction spot on when he awakes one day with his right hand transformed into a young girl. Enter Midori Kasugano, a junior high school student who has harboured a secret crush for her Seiji-kun since she first saw him 3 years previously. Now she’s his right hand and they are going to have to learn to get along if they are to keep their secret safe. But that is not going to be such an easy task as it may sound, with intrusive friends, a love rival for Sawamura, and their own conflicting personalities this is certainly not a match made in heaven.

As said previously the characters in this show are all developed really well and there is almost no feeling of forced characterisation, but with such a group of oddballs it is really surprising to see no stereotypes really coming out in the central and supporting cast. Of course the main character development rests on both Seiji and Midori as they get to know each other, and learn to work around their unique predicament. This is handled thoughtfully, and poignantly but with enough humour that the viewer does not end up drowning in saccharine scenes.

The animation standard is, as to be expected from Studio Pierrot, very high with the character designs, movement absolutely everything being top notch. There cannot even remember any attempts to cheapen the animation with lots of frozen still shots to double for lingering gazes, but there is a fair amount of flashbacks in what is a short series. The audio tracks are also of a good quality. The Japanese voice actors are fantastic at capturing the conflicting emotions of these messed up kids, with particular note going to the two main characters voiced by Kisho Taniyama (Seiji) and Mai Nakahara (Midori) as they express the varying issues, and problems with a remarkably realistic tone and delivery. The music isn’t half-bad either, with the opening and closing themes being catchy upbeat tunes but the in-episode incidental music being completely throwaway.

Well as you have probably gathered from the last 500 words or so, I kinda liked this series. The characters are fun, and the situations are amusing. Yes there is a bit of ecchi goodness in here if that floats your boat, but luckily that does not detract from the quality of this show in any way. For those of you who didn’t manage to catch this on fansub or import from the US, you will all be lucky enough to get a chance to see this title as Bandai have just today announced the R2 release coming in April 2005. (Spooky – the day I write the review, this news breaks). Now for those of you who have not really been swayed by titles such as Fruits Basket there is probably not much here to recommend this show to you. But if you are looking for a funny, romantic, and short lived show then I don’t think you could do much better.

-- otaku_kei 9th Feb 05

Midori No Hibi Images