Please Twins!

Publisher
Bandai
Director
Yasunori Ide
Production
Bandai, Dome
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
13 episodes
Year
2003

Please Twins V. 2 (R1 review)

By David Rasmussen
20th Mar 05

Before we begin...
Yes, if you looked at the title and thought about it you already know where this is coming from.
Yes, it's another series from "Please", the person who bought you Please Teacher.
What is with this creator and all the sexual tension, let alone female characters who fall for the wrong person! Last time it was that teacher who fell for the one student in the entire prefecture who didn't want her (until the end or halfway through) and had a problem with going into comas whenever he was overstimulated... yeah, that's normal... not.

This time out it's TWO girls who have found one guy who, yes, should make the rest of us normal people angry since he is, wait for it, another character who seems to not want anything the girls are dishing out... well, it's not going to be a comedy without some resistance after all, but still... gimme a break.
If I see one more series with a male lead who you'd rather see dragged behind a building and beaten senseless with a baseball bat I'll... I'll do something. Maybe go back to playing (dot)hack on the PS2.
Let's get this over with.

Episode 5 - Do You Like Girls?
Well that's an obvious title.
If you want to know what happened before, by the way, there'll be a brief recap at the start of this episode so you'll be caught up with the goings on as the episode begins.

Now, we come to the eternal question asked by many female characters like this who seem to have picked the wrong male to become attached to... mainly if they're so hot on this character why doesn't he seem to like girls? Yeah. Not understanding why they have attached themselves to the one irritating cast member of the series, and are not getting anything back in return from doing that, Miina and Karen are confused as to why he isn't jumping at every girl he sees... mostly because he's an idiot. Baseball bat, please.

Of course it doesn't help that they just transferred to the same school as the guy they're interested in, and found every guy there to be hot for them except... yeah... their guy who seems rather... well, the minute he saw them he kind of looked rather ticked off. Now this probably goes a long way to explaining why he's not showing emotions towards them but don't try to explain that to these two, they're not listening.

So it has come to the minds of these two girls that, well after they‘ve been hopelessly corrupted by their female classmates and their fantasies, if the boy they're hot for (Maiku) isn't falling over every girl he sees then he must be... well... yes, that often misused and overused stereotype reflex action people like this jump to when they don't see enough girl crazy intent in the boys they love.
Of course the "other boy" in the so called relationship isn't helping the matter by actually encouraging such thoughts even when it looks like it's ticking the hell out of Maiku.

I don't know who I should feel sorry for, him or the audience... oh, wait, I feel sorry for us.
I'm tired of these obvious plots. I can see it coming from the next star system over and yet people still insist on writing this! Please "please", no more.

Anyway, with the corrupting seeds of mistrust and suspicion firmly set into their brains these two girls are out to further complicate an already messed up situation by flaunting their bodies and YET not go all the way since, well, it seems one of them (maybe both) might be his sister. Yeah. There's an idea. Maybe HE knows whose his sister and he's keeping away because of that... and since it seems he's keeping away from both they may ALL be related... which sucks when you think about it.
Anyway if you think any reluctance on his part will stop them from carrying on and assuming a done to death notion about this boy though? Forget about it. Nothing good can come from these suspicions.

Oh, and why does it look like the teacher/alien from Please Teacher is in this show? Is she human now or is she still an alien? Is she still with that loser she was with in the last series? What gives!

Episode 6 - Love Alliance
Well, with his present rooming partners Maiku will never need enemies. Heck, with his present "creator" (Please) he'll never ever ever need enemies. His own "father" is all the enemies he'll need.
If the insanity of last episode didn't kill Maiku, this might do the trick.

Now let me get this straight. Our two heroines? They do want him, yes they do, BUT they won't want him if they're sister/brother, and so they make a Love Alliance to prevent other girls from getting to him while they figure out who's related to who. First they accuse him of not liking girls, now they're paranoid about any girl getting to him while they toy around with him and get nowhere with him. Yeah. I see the logic in THAT, don't you!! Let's see how long this "alliance" lasts... first they'll have to kill the annoying male character who got the whole gay thing rolling last episode though.

Episode 7 - Making Memories
Would these memories be admissible in court? Maiku could use them as a basis for a restraining order.
Here's a practical lesson to grow on in the world of Anime if you‘re a female out looking for the guy of your dreams : Never ever ever ever win a trip to a tropical paradise while you're struggling to keep the boy of your interests away from the female sex. Apparently you'll end up in a place that seems to be a migrating spot for women of all types and they will suddenly all be attracted to said boy... or something like that.
Right. Never mind the fact it‘s abit of an obvious set-up for these woes to be brought down on them on a trip to a "tropical paradise"! Uhh -- oh, well, let's break this down before I have a breakdown.

Please Twins! Breakdown the 2nd
What's Hot? - Well, the title is Older Teen (16+) so I guess it's abit hot blooded... if you like that.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this kind of humor will find it's mark and find an audience amongst the readers here, so if you think you're ready for this kind of sexually charged humor you should go right now and check it out (starting from Volume 1). If you have doubts, then rent it... give it a test spin before you decide on ownership of the series. Hmm... for myself I have to say there's probably a fair to good chance you'll find merit in it if this appeals to you, so if you find it appealing you'll find it worth your time and effort to put this series into your collection.

What? What did I think of it? Hmm... I can't deny the fact I did smirk, smile and somewhat enjoy myself watching it... but it could have been better. Despite my mood to the opposite during the review I didn't have much of a problem with it. It wasn't the greatest, but it was nice and so I have to say that if you think it hit's the spot with you then you should head straight out and check it out... you might find it's just what you were looking for.

What's Not - HOWEVER if you are turned off by the antics in this then you'll not be buying this.
Here's a basic rule of thumb that should help you along in your decision. Mainly this : did you watch Please Teacher? What did you think of that! Now if you liked (and have the entire series of) Please Teacher (including the few Graphic Novels ComicsOne put out before they ran into publishing trouble) then you'll be back for this series. And hey, it even has the teacher from Please Teacher here so you're in luck.
Now, however, if you didn't like Please Teacher at all then you probably won't be changing your mind for Please Twins. It's the same formula, with different people and different storylines, but basically it's from the same creator so it'll have some similarities to the series' predecessor.

OF COURSE even if that's so that does not mean you shouldn't be a little open minded to it.
I had to watch it to form my opinion, and so do you. Just judging it without even watching it? It's no good, no good at all. You should watch it first before you say you'll hate it... I had to watch Waterworld to know I hate it, and heaven forbid I hate it because it was filmed on my hometurf of the Big Island of Hawaii... I never want to see Kevin Costner as long as I live... so you can't tell me you disapprove of Please Twins without watching it first. You'll never know whether you'll like something or not until you gave it a spin and the benefit of the doubt. That's fair enough, right?

Still... it's not horrible so it‘s not like I‘m warning you to stay away from this. In fact I‘m encouraging you to give it a spin because there might be merit to it if you give it a shot... just like I would want to put a certain character of this show into the spin cycle of a washing machine... uh, never mind.

Yes, I said this before and I'll say it again, it's not the greatest. It's not an "Azumanga Daioh" or a Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex but it has it's merits... and characters you'd most like to see infected with the T virus so they will die a slow and horrible death. The only question is is this series something you can find yourself enjoying, or find yourself turned off by? If it is you're going to be in for the long haul (I guess there should be another 2 DVDs coming in the near future for a grand total of 13 episodes same as with Please Teacher), if not then you'll be passing this for another series.

Moments to Remember? - Hmm... okay, let's be honest. The humor and the sexual humor is the memorable stuff. The twins are nice characters, but are not strong enough character development wise to be memorable just on their own. The sexual humor and the many female characters (that are flirts -- saying it nicely) will be the most memorable about this volume.

What to Ignore? - HOWEVER if certain scenarios sound like they've all been done before? They've probably have been done before. The whole thing about mistaking the male lead's sexual orientation, the jerky male who does nothing but cause trouble for the male lead, all the women throwing themselves at the male lead, the whole scam of the trip to a tropical place where the twins want alone time with the male lead only to find that everyone has followed them there... specifically THAT plot point came from Please Teacher when the student and teacher went on their honeymoon and everyone followed them!
All of these sound (and one actually is) as if they've all been done before, and odds are they have all been done before. Is that a good thing? I don't think so, no.

Making a new series in the same energy and spirit as Please Teacher is nice, but not borrowing story elements from Please Teacher... or just reusing obvious story elements to death... one or the other.

Next on my list of necessary ignorance is the secondary male character who keeps trying to link himself and Maiku (the male lead) in romantic senses... maybe he's trying to kick Maiku in the butt and get him to get a girlfriend, I don't know, but his character is a pain to watch and a pain to listen to. I want to ignore him.
Maiku isn‘t winning brownie points with me either, but this male character is the worse of the lot.

Overall? - Mixed bag here. While there is merit to consider this for your collection there isn't an overwhelming drive to recommend this... But that won't stop me from telling you to try this for yourself and be your own judge as to the merits of this series.
It has it's moments, but it also suffers from episodic plot points that have been done to death.
It has likeable characters, but it also has characters you wouldn't mind seeing "rubbed out".
It has it's good points, and it has it's bad points, so mixed bag all the way.

But again that's just me. Guess what? It might actually be a blast if you are the right person for this series! Start with your familiarity with Please Teacher as a guide, and work your way from there.
Like female characters and romantic sexual tensions with humor? You'll go for this.
I don't know much else to say about this except that it has a sexy side, and it's funny, and if you can ignore it's failings you'll find merit in watching it. Rent it, try it, who knows. It might appeal to you, but it might turn you off all the same. Only you can decide that.

-- David Rasmussen 20th Mar 05

Please Twins! Images